A Foregone Conclusion or Star Shine and Angel Wine
by Green Kneesocks
Summary: A foregone conclusion fic set in my other story Shigeko Kageyama AKA Mob. Mob is all grown up and wants Reigen to know it. It's been four years, it's time to confess. It's time to get an answer. It's time to be adults. MobxReigen fem!Mob


A/N: This is a look into a possible future for Reigen and Mob, girl Mob. You don't have to read my other fic Shigeko Kageyama AKA Mob to understand what's going on but you can if you want to. Enjoy! Also, this may have sequels. Tell me if that's something you guys would like, please and thank you!

"You didn't have to come into work Today, Mob. You did just graduate after all. Go out and celebrate." Said Reigen as he closed the blinds on the setting sun.

"I know, but I wanted to come in today." Said Mob as she closed her laptop and stood up from her desk. It had been an alright day. She graduated that morning, had lunch with her parents, and then went to work. Interactions between she and her family were still stiff as they ever were but at least now that she was finally eighteen they stopped asking her to come home already.

"Don't you want to go off and have fun with your friends?" asked Reigen as he felt his pockets. Phone, keys, wallet? Yup. Good. Mob shook her head.

"Sho and Ritsu are on a date tonight, Tome and the other telepathy club members are at university now anyway, Rei and Go are on a date, too, or maybe Rei is back together with Takeshi, and I'm not great friends with the other Awakening Lab kids. Besides, you're my friend, Master." Said Mob as Reigen hit the lights. She saw him smile at that. She wasn't an expert at reading faces but she knew his. That was his real smile, the one he gave her when she had made him happy for real. They left Spirits and Such as they had most nights for the past seven years. Mob looked around as she walked down the steps. They seemed taller, all those years ago. No, she was just taller now. She was taller and older and all grown up.

"What about, uh, Teru?" asked Reigen as he locked the outer door. He knew that it was a touchy subject but, well, he didn't want Mob to feel like she was wasting her youth again. Maybe those two could make up. They had been so good for each other and Lord knew that both of them could use the companionship. He didn't even know why they had broken up. Mob had just come through the door one day and simply told him that she and Teru were done with. They had stayed up all night talking, drinking, and eating junk food.

"Teru and I broke up, Master." Said Mob as she took what felt like one last look at the Spirits and Such sign. It wasn't, she'd be back in on Monday, but it would be her last look as a kid. She had graduated from high school. She was eighteen. She was an adult now. She was an adult and she did not want to talk about Teru. He had been with her before she was an adult. She and him had their good times but they had broken up. He knew how she felt about Reigen and when he gave her an ultimatum, him or Reigen, she had said that she needed a day. He had ended it right there.

"I know that, Mob. Don't you remember the two of us getting drunk and crying that out?" asked Reigen. Mob shook her head. She could sort of remember that night. Thank God drinking shut her powers up instead of making them worse.

"You got drunk and cried twice as much as I did." Said Mob. Breaking up with Teru had hurt, they had been together for three years, he had been all of her firsts, but in the end it had just come apart. She just couldn't leave Master Reigen. She had been on the fence about Master Reigen, then, because Teru had made her so happy and she had made him so happy. She had even been thinking of going to university with him. Of living with him. Of giving him the perpetuity that she had promised Master Reigen all those years ago. She had been thinking about it but then Teru had to go and give her an ultimatum. She just needed a day to think about it, just a single day. He had taken it as her not wanting to be with him at all. It had hurt. It had hurt so much she thought that she was going to die. She had turned to Master Reigen and he had been there for her. Master Reigen would always be there for her.

"Well, it was an emotional time for both of us. First break ups are the worst, Mob." Said Reigen as they made their way to the train station. That had been one of their rare negative feedback loops. He could feel her feelings as if they were his and he would then in turn write his feelings to her as if they were hers. Whenever this happened it was positive. Usually. Sometimes it was negative.

"We decided that we'd still be friends." Said Mob. They hand hung out a few times, as friends. It had been alright. Not like before. It was like there was this awful thing between them now, this thing that they couldn't even talk about but it was there. Reigen rolled his eyes.

"What?" asked Mob. They were still sort of friends, they certainly weren't enemies. It wasn't so bad. It wasn't like what happened between Ritsu and Rei. She had locked herself in her room for two weeks and vowed to never love again. Then when Ritsu and Sho started going out she had decided that Ritsu was dead to her and pretended that he didn't exist. She even took down all of the picture she had with the two of them and then reposted them with Ritsu photoshopped out. Master Reigen was really good at exorcising spirits and bad memories from pictures.

"Nothing. Everyone just says that when they break up." Said Reigen. Everyone tried to stay just friends, it never took. You couldn't go back. Once you had that kind of intimacy with someone, physical and emotional, then you couldn't just take a step back like that. Time would always march forwards.

"Did you say that for all the times you broke up?" asked Mob still staring straight forward. They walked a well-worn path to the train station, to their home. Four years, it was four years ago that she had run away from home and Master Reigen opened his home up to her. Now it was their home.

"Yeah. Yeah I did. But I don't say that anymore." Said Reigen lighting a cigarette. Mob turned to face him as they walked. He knew, now, that you could never go back. Once you opened that box you couldn't put the bees back in. You just had to deal with the stings and get on with your life. Wait, no, that wasn't a good analogy. Awful lot of bees out tonight, though.

"But you haven't had a girlfriend in the seven years I've known you." Said Mob softly. She was secretly grateful. That was the worst part of her saying that. He had taken women to bed with him, she knew where he went at night. She knew what he had been doing when he came home early in the a.m. smelling like unfamiliar soap or, even worse, perfume. She wasn't much better. She and Teru had been every single first for each other. She wanted to be with Master Reigen but she wasn't going to wait. Four years was a long time to wait for a maybe.

"Be nice, Mob." Said Reigen taking a long drag of his cigarette. He hadn't been in a real relationship since university. Mob was the closest thing he had ever had to a relationship. That was who she had become, to him, as she left her childhood behind. She was a woman, now. She was a woman and she lived with him. She stayed up long into the night talking with him about life. She occasionally rested her head in his lap as they watched TV. She had slept next to him, her on her futon and him in his bed, every single night for the past four years. She was his everything and she wasn't a child anymore. He didn't want to think too deeply on this, now. He wanted their existence to be one big today but that didn't happen. She had grown up so fast he hadn't even realized it until one day it hit him like a freight train.

"Sorry." Said Mob. She had been really mean. She stared straight ahead as they walked. She felt like trash. She felt a hand in her hair, it gave her hair a slight tug. Not meanly. Master Reigen never pulled her hair meanly. That was just how they said things, sometimes. How they reassured each other.

"You're fine, Mob. Besides, why would I need a girlfriend? I have you. You're a girl and you're my best friend." Said Reigen as he gave her hair a tug. That was something between them, a little signal that one had the other. He couldn't remember when or why he had started doing it but it always reassured her. He didn't really want a girlfriend. He didn't know what he would even want. Mob was there for him emotionally and as far as sex went he was a good looking guy in his early thirties, he got women when he needed it. It wasn't fair, though, to put Mob so near to that box, and he was putting her dangerously near to that box. That was another fact that had hit him like a freight train. Maybe he ought to just stop playing so near to the train tracks.

"You're my best friend too, Master." Said Mob softly. She reached a tentative hand over and laced her fingers with his. She didn't look at him and he hoped that he wasn't looking at her. She was all grown up now. The fourteen years that had once seemed like a chasm between them had shrank. She was a woman, now. She was a woman and he was a man. They were equals, now. They were both adults now.

"Uh, Mob?" asked Reigen. She hadn't held his hand since she was little. Was she feeling vulnerable? Probably. Big changes were happening in her life. She had just finished high school and would be starting at Season City Junior college in April. Her birthday was coming up, too. Well, not until May but still. Nineteen. It had been a big enough shock when he had woken up to her being 18. Soon she'd be twenty then twenty five and he'd be an old man with hair coming out of his ears and a huge hump where his spine used to be.

"I want to hold your hand. Do you want me to stop?" asked Mob. She was going to be direct. She had been waiting for him for four years, since she realized how she felt. Now that she was all grown up she could finally tell him. She needed him to know how she felt. This was pretty clear, right?

"No. Not if you don't want to." Said Reigen after a moment. She must have been feeling vulnerable, that was it. This was nice, though. He didn't dare risk a glance in her direction. He knew that he didn't need to read into this. This was Mob for God's sake. She didn't look at him like that, she didn't think of him like that. He was mostly sure of it. Anything else was just hormones. She was young and single. As far as he knew she hadn't been with anyone since she and Teru broke up. Obviously she didn't have feelings for him, just feelings in general.

"I don't." said Mob, a small smile gracing her face. He liked this. Good. She held his hand tighter. He ran thumb over the back of her hand. She shuddered just a little. His hands had callouses on them despite the sheer amount of moisturizing he did.

"We should celebrate tonight." Said Reigen after a while, just to say something. He still didn't dare look at her. Lately he had been looking at her too much. She had been living with him for four years but he was still noticing things about her. Things that he should not have been noticing. Lately he had found his eyes lingering on the swell of her breasts in her nightgown when she woke up, the way her hair felt when he would run his fingers through it. The softness of her skin when they'd sometimes lay together on the couch on lazy Sundays and fall asleep in front of the TV.

"…celebrate?" asked Mob. She had a plan for tonight, sort of. Not a set in stone plan. She was just going to tell Master Reigen exactly how she felt. She had waited long enough. Four years. That was a long enough time. She would be nineteen next May, anyway. Nineteen and thirty three felt like even less of a gap then eighteen and thirty two. She was ready. She hadn't been, before, but now she knew what she wanted exactly. When she had first felt these feelings she had been fourteen and just wanted to sleep with him. Her thoughts had been consumed with vague feelings of kisses and touches and I love yous. Now she knew what she wanted. She still wanted him in bed with her but she also wanted perpetuity, forever, with him. She had almost died for him. He had almost died for her. Many times. They had fought Claw together, the second time being much worse than the first. The divine tree. The time the other her had tried to take over. The time they had gone their separate ways. Two people didn't just go through all of that and not come out the other side even closer.

"Sure. How about dinner? And afterwards a good bottle of sake. Not that crap I usually get from the convenience store but an actually good bottle of sake." Said Reigen still holding her hand. Her hand was pretty soft, actually. She hardly ever actually touched things. She used her powers subconsciously. He could feel it, the energy that made her up. It was nice.

"Ramen?" asked Mob

"We always get ramen." Said Reigen

"Because we like it." Said Mob

"Don't you want something more, I don't know, special?" asked Reigen

"Ramen is special to me. We both love ramen and we usually either get it after work or make it at home. It's special because that's where we go together all the time." Said Mob. Reigen risked a glance at her. She was blushing. He had the momentary urge to let go of her hand but didn't. It…it felt nice. This felt nice. Her hand, not nearly as small as it used to be. Soft and warm. He wanted to lace his fingers with hers. He wanted it but he didn't. There was a line that he couldn't cross. There was not any going back from that.

"You sure that you don't want anything else?" asked Reigen. He would take her anywhere she wanted to go. She deserved something nicer than the ramen place they had been going to since she was eleven. Mob shook her head.

"Master, I wouldn't have suggested it if I wasn't sure." Said Mob. She didn't do anything unless she was certain.

"Alright, it's your graduation day. Hey, where did you go with your parents?" asked Reigen. She could be so stubborn, sometimes. When Mob got an idea in her head she took it and she ran with it. She was someone of strong convictions, if he was being nice. She was stubborn, if he was being less nice.

"Chinese food. There were custard buns. It was really good. Ritsu was there, too, but without Sho because mom and dad don't know yet." Said Mob. Mom and Dad didn't know a lot of things. She had left home four years ago. She wished that Ritsu would have left home, too. He was always twisting himself into pretzels trying to become the person that they wanted him to be. He had even spent much too long trying to make it work with Rei. Mob shuddered at the memory of that break up. Poor Rei. Poor Ritsu. Break ups were always awful. She knew that first hand.

"He should really tell them." Said Reigen. He wasn't sure if he was talking about the only son of the Kageyama family's boyfriend or his psychic powers. Reigen didn't blame the kid, though. They had let Mob walk right out the door at fourteen because of her powers. They weren't wining parents of the year anytime soon that was for sure. He didn't have any kids but if he did he would have accepted them. You had to accept people for who they were. Everyone's life was their own.

"No. They might not accept him. Ritsu likes to be accepted." Said Mob. Ritsu wasn't like her, he didn't have somewhere to run away to when home became unbearable. She had offered up the home she shared with Master Reigen but he had said no. Ritsu didn't like Master Reigen for some reason.

"You don't? You? The same girl who joined a hardcore work out club to be popular? The girl who spent every single day pushing her body to it's physical limits just to be popular?" asked Reigen. Her club hadn't really paid off, either. He had seen those kids she worked out with. She didn't have anywhere near the musculature that they did but then again she was a girl. Still, she did look nice. Her legs were pretty strong. She had nice calves. No, bad Reigen. Terrible Reigen.

"When I was little I wanted everyone to like me and I wanted to be popular. Now I know that not everyone is going to like me but that's alright because I have people in my life that care." Said Mob. She thanked God every day that she had people in her life that cared, that she was so loved….it could have been so much worse. No. She was never going back there again.

"I can't imagine anyone not liking you, Mob." Said Reigen giving her hand a squeeze. She shouldn't be so down on herself, she was a great person. She had always been so good, so sweet, so wonderful. She had always been someone he admired, adored.

"I can…" said Mob too softly for him to hear. No. She wasn't there. She would never go back there again. It hadn't even been real. She was Mob. She was Mob and she was loved.

They made their way to their usual ramen restaurant and sat at their usual spot. They got their usual order and ate it in the usual way. It was very usual.

"This is seriously how you want to spend your first night as a grown adult? Not that I'm complaining, they did a great job tonight." Said Reigen with his mouth full. Mob was eating slowly. It seemed like she had something on her mind. But what?

"Yes. Why do you keep asking?" asked Mob. She had thought that he would be happy. He loved this place, usually.

"I don't know, I guess that I just want to make this special for you. You're a full adult, Mob. No more high school ever again." Said Reigen. He knew that he had been literally jumping for joy the day he graduated. Mob was, as usual, subdued. Well, she had actually enjoyed school. She had made some friends, even gone to the same high school and most of her friends from club. Maybe she was just melancholic. She could get like that, sometimes.

"I know. Sometimes I think that I'm going to miss it but then I remember that I had a great time back then and more great times will come later." Said Mob echoing the words that Master Reigen had spoken when she had graduated from middle school. He had taken for ramen that night, too. They had stayed up late that night. They had walked through the park together until late and then gone home and stayed up all night talking. They did that a lot, actually. It was amazing how they still hadn't run out of things to say in the four years they had been together.

"Hey, you remembered. Well, it's nice to see that you still listen to your wise old Master every now and again." Said Reigen wiping his mouth with his sleeve. She used her powers to hand him a napkin.

"I always listen to you, Master." Said Mob. After four years he still didn't believe that she listened to him about everything. She remembered everything that he had ever told her. He was Master Reigen. He was the master and she was the student and that was the way it had been for the past seven years.

"I know you do, Mob. I was just kidding. You've been an amazing student, Mob. I'm so proud of you and the person you've become." Said Reigen as he ate. He really was. She was such a good person, such a brave person. She had faced down evil organizations, evil spirits, giant broccoli, the personification of religious zealotry, and even her own self. That meek, quiet, little eleven year old had grown into this, the woman before him.

"…you've been a good Master to me. You've been a good Master and friend and I….I love you." Said Mob after a moment. Reigen blinked.

"I love you too, Mob." Said Reigen. He thought that she had meant it in the way that they had said I love you in the past. Not romantic love. Not sexual love. There were different kinds of love that had nothing to do with sex or romance.

"That's not what I meant…." Muttered Mob as she went back to eating. That hadn't been the time to confess. She had just gotten away from herself for a moment. She needed to do this properly.

"Huh?" asked Reigen through a mouthful of noodles and broth. He had been trying to figure out if this needed soy sauce or not. Everything tasted better with soy sauce but then again it might unbalance the flavors of the ramen.

"Master Reigen, what did you do when you graduated?" asked Mob suddenly. No. She would confess when they got home. She had to. She had to confess and get this all out there in the open because otherwise she was going to **explode**. She had been keeping this inside for four years. Reigen thought for a moment.

"You know, honestly, I was so drunk I don't really remember. Some other kids and I, we were sort of friends, drank on the beach all night." Said Reigen. More like he had crashed a party, drank way too much, and the next thing he remembered was throwing up out his window after somehow getting home. Yeah, Mob would have better than he had.

"That's why you're getting us sake tonight?" asked Mob. They drank together a few times. Usually when something particularly good or bad happened.

"It's tradition, Mob. In the Reigen-Kageyama household we celebrate every achievement with a drink." Said Reigen. Mob quickly busied herself eating so as not to alert Master Reigen of the blush bursting into bloom on her cheeks. She had come close, in the past, when they drank. She had come to close to telling him, to kissing him, to pulling him over and showing him exactly how she felt. How he made her feel. How she could make him feel.

"Master, you don't have to get me anything expensive, or anything at all." Said Mob after swallowing the food in her mouth. Just because Master Reigen liked to talk with his mouth full didn't mean that she did. She didn't want him to go through any trouble for her. She knew that they didn't make a crazy amount of money, anyway. Master Reigen didn't charge a lot so that he could help as many people as possible and their passive income streams weren't that great, either. Their book was still in print but people weren't buying it like they had in the beginning. Their videos still got watched but other people had overtaken them in terms of views. Sometimes they got interviewed or were on TV but after four years people just seemed to get bored of them.

"Mob, I want to. Come on, don't you remember way back when you first moved in? I promised you that when you grew up we'd be proper friends?" asked Reigen. Mob nodded. He had promised her a lot of things, back then. She had made her promises to him, too. He had promised her love. She had promised him perpetuity. She would keep her promise.

_Will you love me when I'm a grown up?_

"You did. I remember, but I don't want you to trouble yourself." Said Mob. Reigen reached across the table and tugged on her hair gently. She worried too much. She worried about him, she worried about money, but she didn't. He could worry about all of that. He was the adult…no…she was an adult too.

"It's no trouble, Mob, not if it's for you." Said Reigen. Mob deserved some second from the top shelf sake. She had grown so much over the years. He was so proud of the person she had become. He watched out of the corner of his eye as they made their way to the ramen shop. They sat down at their table and got their usual order. Usual. Regular. Normal. This entire thing was normal. He watched her as she ate. She was taller now. When they sat down they were eye to eye.

"I know, but I still worry. You said that I wasn't supposed to worry about money because you were the adult and I was the kid. I'm not a kid anymore." Said Mob

"I know you aren't, but I still don't want you to worry. Mob, this is my responsibility. Ok?" asked Reigen. She was still Mob and he was Reigen and he was the one who worried about stuff like this.

"Why?" asked Mob

"Why what?" asked Reigen watching her. He knew that look. Stubborn Mob look.

"I'm not a child. I can worry about whatever I want to worry about." Said Mob. She was not a child and she would not be seen as a child. Reigen sighed.

"You're right. You're a grown woman now and you have been for all of a few months. Tell you what, when we're low on money I'll tell you." Said Reigen. Not that they had been low on money in years. They had been on the edge for the first few years. Their passive income streams really helped. They didn't live like royalty but it was a lot better than when they were starting off. He had even been able to stop accepting money from her parents three years ago. He and Mob were fully self-sufficient.

"Thank you, Master." Said Mob as she went back to eating. She could feel Master Reigen looking at her. She looked up. She couldn't read his face and he was hiding his aura from her. She missed it, the feel of him in her aura. He had managed to integrate himself within hers, before. His yellow would move with her pink and blue fractals.

They ate in silence for a moment. She watched him, occasionally. He watched her right back. The silence felt heavy after a while. Even she could feel it in the atmosphere. She wished that she was better at reading people. She wondered what he was thinking. What went through his head when he looked at her? The same things that went through her head when she looked at him?

Reigen watched her eat. She really had grown up. She wasn't a child anymore, she wasn't eleven anymore. She was all grown up and she wanted him to know it. He knew it. He watched her. Much taller. Not a lot of baby fat left in her face. Same bowl cut bangs. No more braids, she had ditched those years ago. No make-up. Pink dress. Gym shoes. She still dressed the same, mostly. He kept his eyes from lingering on her. She really had become very pretty. Her eyes were so expressive, when she let them be. He watched her eat. He didn't mean to be he did. Her lips were pink. Not lipstick pink but pretty pink. Soft. Everything about her was soft.

"Do you like yours, Master?" asked Mob as she ate. She could feel his eyes on her. She looked up to meet his. Blue. Not bright blue like Teru's but more of a deeper, ocean like, blue. She watched his face. He hadn't aged at all. He still looked the same as he did on the day that they had met. She was different, though. She was older now. Did he see it? Did he see her as she was or as he saw her in his mind? Was she also ageless to him?

"They've outdone themselves once again. Good pick, Mob. You're doing well, student." Said Reigen. She was really holding eye contact with him. She had been doing that more and more as she got older. Older. She was older, now. He didn't want to see it, to remember their morality, the road their relationship had gone down, but he did. He resisted the urge to let his aura out from the confines of himself. He had gotten his powers from Mob, years and years ago, and he had just learned how to keep them controlled enough that he didn't go picking up on everyone's feelings. He could even hide himself from hers. He had to.

"I wasn't trying to…" said Mob softly. She liked his eyes. They were so expressive. She couldn't always read their expression but they were expressive.

"Well, you still did." Said Reigen. She still called him Master. He had stopped being Master Reigen to her when she became an adult. At this point what more could he teach her? He remembered, years ago, that he had said that he was just Reigen…that he would be just Reigen, to her, when she grew up. Whatever. She could call him whatever she was comfortable with. There was no going back from Reigen. He couldn't be Master again if he was just Reigen. No. There was no going back from that. She could call him Reigen when she wanted to. He wouldn't push it. He could prolong today for as long as possible.

They paid and made their way to the train station. It was dark now, the air coolish and the crickets chirping. It was nice. The height of summer was coming. Mob held Master Reigen's hand again. He said nothing. If she wanted to hold his hand then he would let her. She obviously needed him and he wanted to be there for her. They held hands for the entire train ride home, breaking apart only when they reached their destination. To Mob this was progress. To Reigen this was supporting his dearest and only friend.

"Any preferences for taste or region?" asked Reigen as they stood before the sake aisle at the liquor store near their house. Red sake, that had been the first thing they had ever drank together. Back when she was fourteen and they found a bottle of it aging in a cardboard box in his kitchen. It wasn't that great but it would be nostalgic.

"I don't know anything about sake, Master, I've just had the stuff from the convenience store. Well, except for that one time we had red sake. They don't really have that here. I'll pick something, though." Said Mob as she looked at all the bottles. Some of them were kind of pretty, actually. She spied one in a bright pink bottle. Reigen saw where her eyes landed.

"Great choice Mob! This is a really great brand." Said Reigen pretending to know more about sake than he let on. He had rarely strayed from the bottom shelf in his thirty two years of life but Mob deserved more than that. Second from the top bottle of pink stuff it was.

"I…don't know if it'll be any good." Said Mob as she smiled at Master Reigen's praise. Reigen patted her on the back, his hand lingering for just a moment too long.

"Mob, I'm sure you'll love it and if not we'll just toss it in the back of the fridge for a few decades until it becomes valuable." Said Reigen as they made their way to the counter. Reigen paid while Mob stared at all of the things that were kept behind the counter. All of the adult things that she could just walk right up and buy and nobody could tell her otherwise. Cigarettes. Vapor cartridges. Condoms.

"Mob, you want anything else?" asked Reigen as he caught her eyeing the cigarettes and such. They had shared a cigarette or two in the past and he hoped that it wasn't enough to get her addicted. It really was a terrible habit. He needed to quit. He wasn't going to, though. He had been smoking since he was fourteen. He had tried, in the past, and had settled for cutting down.

"Oh no, I'm coming." Said Mob as she hurried to Master Reigen's side. What had she been thinking, she probably wouldn't even need…but if…well she was sure he had some someplace. She might have even still had some. Not that she had been with anyone since she and Teru had broken up. Not that she would even need them tonight. She was going to confess to him not come onto him. She knew not to count her chickens until they hatched. Not that she would mind if he wanted to.

Not that she hadn't been thinking about it every single day for the past four years or anything.

They made their home, Mob not racing up the stairs like she had when she was little. She stayed by Master Reigen's side now. She wasn't a kid anymore. She had to show him that she wasn't a kid anymore. She wanted to race up those stairs though, her feet to clang against their metal. Her footsteps to fall so heavy that the staircase swayed. She wanted to get inside already so that she could finally **tell** him. She had been sitting on this since she was **fourteen**. She had waited for so long already. She had to be an adult, now, and an adult would be able to wait for a few more minutes.

"And you said you didn't want any sake." Said Reigen as he unlocked the door. She could still be such a kid sometimes. She was practically bouncing in place.

"I just want to get inside." Said Mob as he unlocked the door. He chuckled as she crossed the threshold into their home. She slipped off her shoes and went to the kitchen quickly. She sat down at the table and got their sake cups out. Right. This was going to be it. She was going to tell him. After he sat down she was going to tell him. She had to.

Why was she so nervous?

The worst he could say was no…

That would be awful. She didn't think she could that kind of pain.

But he wouldn't say no. He couldn't. He loved her. He had fought for her. He had risked his life for her time after time.

He had held her power in his hands and defeated Claw for her. He had almost died for her.

He had come back to her even after they had went their separate ways. Even after they had said such terrible…unspeakable…things to each other.

He had been there for her while she recovered from the world Mogami had trapped her in. He had been there while she cried. He had been there while she pushed him away.

He had pulled a gun on Toichiro for her. He had stood there and fought for her even though he didn't have anywhere near the power to stop him. Master Reigen had shot Toichiro for her. Master Reigen had tried to kill for her.

He had been there after she grew the divine tree. He had remembered her, after a while. He had come back to her.

He had pulled her back together when she had absorbed all of that power…when the other Shigeko merged with her…when they had tried to erase the world and start again…

He had stopped her from turning into the worst kind of monster. Him. It had always been him. For almost half of her life it had always been him. She loved him and he must have loved her.

Maybe in the way that she loved him. He didn't know. She didn't know. Maybe nobody knew. Maybe this thing was a mistake and she'd be all alone. The cups in front of her shook. No. Keep it together.

"Hey Mob. Wow, someone's eager." Said Reigen as he uncapped their sake. She looked pretty serious, actually. Her hair was acting up. He put the bottle down and reached over to smooth it out. She leaned into his touch. He ran his hand through her hair instead of just smoothing it down. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"That feels good, Master." Said Mob softly. She liked having her hair played with in any capacity. Her toes curled in her socks. He drew his hand lower, it lingered down at her neck.

"I know. You're like a cat, sometimes." Said Reigen as he played with the hair near her neck. He was touching her. It was harder to keep himself, his aura, his powers separate from her when they touched. Empathy. Empath. Why, out of all the powers, did he have to have these? Why were these the powers that got awakened when she poured her energy into him? Well, at least he wasn't lying to her anymore. He actually had powers. Too little too late. He had still lied to her for years.

He was such a bastard, then.

"Master…" said Mob as she eased back into her chair. It groaned under her weight. It had seen better days. Most of their furniture had.

"Want to sit on the couch and watch some TV?" asked Reigen. She nodded and stood up. He took a step back from her and felt his aura leave hers. There was a reason he hid his powers from her, times like these. Times when she felt more than friendship for him. Hormones. This was hormones. He had been telling himself this since she was fourteen. It must have just been hormones otherwise…

Otherwise Mob had feelings for him.

If she did. If he knew that she did then there would be no going back. They couldn't go back from that. Their endless today would end. They would have to face tomorrow. No. He couldn't do that, he couldn't face a tomorrow like that. A tomorrow that they couldn't go back from.

He couldn't reject Mob. He wouldn't. To reject her would have been to push her away. To get rid of her. To go their separate ways. No. He couldn't do that again. He needed her. He needed her smiles, her frowns, her ups, her downs. Her presence. Her caring. Her acceptance. Her devotion. He needed her.

He couldn't return her feelings, either. He couldn't. He had known her since she was **eleven**. It would have been **weird**. What would people **think?** What would they **say?** How would it **look?** No, he wouldn't return her feelings. It didn't matter if she was an adult. It didn't matter how much he cared for her. It didn't matter that whenever they touched he never wanted to let her go. It didn't matter that he had no idea who he was or what he would do without her. It didn't matter that she was his everything.

He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Damned if he did, damned if he didn't.

No, damned if she did and damned if she didn't.

If she didn't have feelings for him then she'd have them for someone else. He had thought that it would be Hanazawa Teruki. He had thought that those two would make it, but they hadn't. He had been there to pick up the pieces of her heart. He would always be there to pick up the pieces of her heart. But what if there wasn't anything to pick up, next time. What if the next guy was…what if the next guy replaced him in her life?

The thought of her with someone, of her bringing some boyfriend to meet him, felt like a knife twisting in his heart. She had been young when she started her first relationship. He had been there for her. He had been there to offer advice and a sympathetic ear. He had been there to take her to the drug store and the clinic for the first time. He had been the first person that she had told when she decided to take the plunge and have sex for the first time. What had she called it? Oh yeah, instrumentality.

She had been so young then. He had just wanted her to have the same experiences that everyone else was having. She had wanted to badly to be normal. She had wanted so badly to be like everyone else. He had wanted so badly for her to be happy. He had been happy for her, too. Now though…he didn't know if he could be. She was older now. She had promised him forever but she was fourteen when she made that promise. She was eighteen now. Older. Still not old enough to drink or smoke legally, stupid laws, but she was an adult. She could go to university, vote, drive, get married, have a baby, leave him forever.

He didn't know what he would do without her.

It wasn't only that. There was a part of himself, a part that he tried to squish down into nothing, that…that had cast himself in that role. Not when she had been a child. No. Legal or not he was **not** into her back then. He wasn't even sure if he was into her now. Maybe he was just terribly codependent. Maybe he was just so terribly codependent that he had wanted to spend his life with her, including fulfilling that role. Maybe that was why he had started dreaming of her as of late. Maybe that was why he woke up in a cold sweat. Maybe that was why his eyes had been lingering on her, lately. Maybe that was why, the last time they fell asleep on the couch together, he had woken up with his arms around her and hadn't broken apart until he could feel her waking up.

Maybe he was just fucked up.

"Master? Are you coming?" asked Mob. Reigen shook himself from his thoughts and grabbed their cups and the sake. Right. Time for a Reigen-Kageyama household tradition.

"I'm coming, put something on, Mob." Said Reigen as he walked down the sort hallway to the living room. He sat down and put everything on their tiny coffee table. She scooted closer to him. She had put one of her shows on. This one had cats who went on adventures. Mob and cats….

"Don't fill mine up to the top, Master." Said Mob. She wouldn't drink. No. If she did then he would just say that she was drunk….like that one time when she was fifteen…though to be fair she had been drunk. They pretended like it never happened. She didn't want them to pretend that this never happened.

"I thought you wanted to celebrate." Said Reigen as he only half filled her cup. He hoped that this stuff was alright. It smelled pretty strong.

"I do, but I don't want to be drunk." Said Mob. Good. He only filled hers up halfway.

"Why? Afraid your boss'll chew you out if you come into work tomorrow hung over?" asked Reigen teasingly. She smiled.

"I don't know, he can be pretty strict…." Said Mob. She knew that he was teasing. She could tease right back.

"Yeah, he sounds like a real asshole." Said Reigen leaning back and loosening his tie. She was still smiling. She could be so expressive, sometimes, for him.

"No, not at all, but he can be a real cheapskate sometimes. He only pays me three hundred yen an hour…" said Mob as she sat so she faced him more. He handed her the half cup and took the full cup for himself.

"Hey, doesn't he give you room and board, too?" asked Reigen teasingly. He held eye contact with her. They may have been a common shade of brown but they were hers.

"I sleep on a futon on the floor, I don't even get my own room." Said Mob playing with the rim of her cup.

"Hey, didn't he offer to find you guys a two bedroom? And didn't you refuse?" asked Reigen watching her eyes, her face, her mouth. She stuck her tongue out a little.

"That's true. I guess I like sharing a room after all." Said Mob looking at him through her eyelashes. She wasn't the best at reading people but she could see that he was getting flushed. So was she.

"Even if he makes you sleep on the floor?" asked Reigen. She was biting her lower lip now, just a little, and looking up at him. They were close, too. Too close. She was sitting facing him, her knees were touching his legs.

"I don't mind…but I wouldn't mind sharing a bed either." Said Mob finally. Direct. She was going to be direct. He made a gasping sort of noise and downed his sake. She sipped hers. It burned. Yup, that was sake.

"Damn, this is like drinking rubbing alcohol. Well, that's how you know it's working. Huh, Mob?" asked Reigen. Literal. She was being literal. She didn't mean it like it sounded. She couldn't have. This was Mob. Mob would never….Mob couldn't. No. Even if she had meant it if he acknowledged it there would be no going back. Best to ignore it.

"I'm sorry that you don't like it." Said Mob softly. She had been clear, right? Teru had always gotten her meaning when they had been like that. No. Don't think about Teru. Think about Master Reigen. He was there and this was going to be the night. It had to be. She couldn't go on like this. She couldn't go on waiting for a yes, waiting for a no, waiting for an absolution that may never come. She couldn't live like that, in one big today. She needed a tomorrow. Good or bad she needed a tomorrow.

"No, I like it. It's good. You did good, student. Oh course you did, you're the student of the great Reigen Arataka!" said Reigen getting into character. That had always put a smile on her face. It had when she was a child. Now she was just watching him. Her face was flat. She was…no…not flat. She was thinking.

"Master, stop. You don't have to be like that with me right now." Said Mob. She loved him. She loved the real Reigen Arataka, not the man he tried to be. She needed that man right now.

"What? You're too old for this, now?" asked Reigen mirthfully. Oh. She was most definitely serious. Well then….he poured himself another cup. Right. Mob was older, now. Mob was all grown up.

"No, it's not that. It's just…we're alone now, Master. You can be yourself." Said Mob watching him pour himself another cup. She used her powers to push the bottle away. She didn't need him drunk.

"I am being myself. I'm Reigen Arataka and you're my student, Kageyama Shigeko also known as Mob." Said Reigen. She moved the bottle. She didn't want him to get stinking drunk. She looked out for him like that.

"I know who I am and I know who you are. I know that when you call yourself the great Reigen Arataka you're really trying to be the person you are at work. I don't want that person right now. I want you. I want the person you are when we're alone. I want that person because we're alone right now and I think that we should just be us right now." Said Mob holding eye contact with him. Reigen took another drink, a big swig, and emptied his cup in one gulp.

"So are you Shigeko now, then?" asked Reigen. He reached for the bottle but she pushed it away with her powers. She still held eye contact. He knew that face. Stubborn Mob was back.

"No. I'm Mob. You know that I'm Mob. The other me is Shigeko. You remember this from when we split and she took over." Said Mob still holding eye contact.

"How in the hell could I forget. You two almost level the city." Said Reigen. He remembered that day. Her brother and Teru had come running into the office, for once looking like the kids that they were. Mob was struggling with the other her. They were battling for control, Dimple had even tried possessing them to hold them together. In the end he had been the one to walk into the eye of the storm and pull the two of them back together and then apart. She could have died. He could have died. It was a miracle that nobody had died.

"We put it back together again. Remember, you helped us." Said Mob. Master Reigen had taken them by the hand and pulled them down. He had held them close and cried. He used all of his power to cover them in his aura and put them right. Then they had enough control to fix everything they broke. Master Reigen had almost died for them.

"Yeah…I did." Said Reigen. She was still holding eye contact. She was still watching him. She still wasn't letting him drink.

"You did it that because you love me." Said Mob simply. Flat fact. Reigen pulled his tie a little looser. He could see where this was going. He could see it coming, the freight train about to run him down. He couldn't run away. Rock and a hard place. She wanted to talk about this. She wouldn't stop until they talked about this.

"I do. Mob…there are different kinds of love…" said Reigen. Maybe his feelings had crossed over into the romantic. Maybe he did watch her sleep sometimes and imagine a life together. Maybe the thought of her with another man made him want to dig a hole and sit in it until he died. Maybe she was so pretty, so beautiful, that he sometimes wanted to pull her into his arms and never let her go. Maybe she was the only human being on the planet who understood him, who had seen every single part of him and accepted him for what he was.

"I know. I know that there are and I know how I feel. I know that I love you, Reigen Arataka." Said Mob holding eye contact with him. She hadn't blinked in a while. Her eyes kind of hurt but he needed to know. She wasn't waiting for a single moment more.

"Mob…I love you too…" said Reigen. He was just going to have to play dumb. Hopefully she could get a clue. No, of course she couldn't. This was Mob.

"Do you love me in the same way that I love you?" asked Mob. She was still staring at him. Reigen wished that they had stayed in the kitchen. At least then there would have been a table between them. No matter. He just had to keep playing dumb. She'd come off it eventually.

"Of course I do. You're my best friend, Mob." Said Reigen. The cups on the table began to rattle. Her hair was starting to stand on end.

"You know that I'm talking about a different kind of love. I know that you do. You're good with words, you always know what people mean. Listen to me when I say that I am in love with you Reigen Arataka." Said Mob. Reigen felt himself start to sweat. Being under her gaze was like being under a million spot lights. She had just thrown the ball into his court. Now it was his turn. He didn't even know what to do with this ball. It was like they were playing basketball and she had just tossed him a bowling ball.

"Mob, no." said Reigen. She couldn't say things like this. She couldn't just say things that she couldn't take back. He wasn't ready to leave their endless today.

"No you don't want to listen or no you don't love me back?" asked Mob. She kept her voice steady. She fidgeted by moving the books on the shelf, reorganizing them with no system at all. Stress. This was stressful and she was not going to let herself explode. No. She couldn't.

"Mob…you can't say things like this…we can't go back if you say things like this." Said Reigen. She didn't get it. He needed to explain it to her. If she confessed to him then this could go one of two ways. Either he ruined their relationship forever by saying no or he potentially ruined it by saying yes. She had done this before, years ago, but he had just chalked that up to drunkenness. She wasn't drunk now. No. not after half a cup.

"Who says that I want to go back?" said Mob. She was not a child. She knew how she felt and she knew what she wanted. She wanted him and she'd rather get a no than live with the lack of absolution. She needed a yes or a no or she'd be in limbo forever. She was tired of this constant today they lived in. She needed a tomorrow.

"Who says that I don't?" asked Reigen petulantly. Why did she have to go off and change everything? They had a good thing going, the two of them.

"Are you just going to pretend that I never said anything, like you did the first time?" asked Mob matching his tone. One word. Yes or no. That was all she was asking for.

"I won't have to pretend because you never said anything." Said Reigen. If he answered then there would be no going back. None at all.

"But I did. I told you that I was in love with you. I'm not a child anymore. I want an answer." Said Mob balling her fist into the skirt of her dress. One word, just one. Then she could move forward. A yes or a no.

"Yeah, you're a mature grown up lady now. You've only been eighteen for how long?" asked Reigen. Now he was trying to hurt her, trying to fight with her, trying to change the **fucking** subject because this was just too much for him and he needed an out right **now**.

"That doesn't matter. I haven't felt like a child in years. I've done things. I've fought, I've won, and I've put my life on the line for others. For you. I've put my life on the line for you, Reigen, and you put your life on the line for me. Are you saying that it meant nothing?" Said Mob. She was glaring at him, now. The couch was hovering a little. She was upset. She was trying not to be.

"But you were a child. Mob, you're young. You don't know what you're saying." Said Reigen. She was still only eighteen. He was thirty two. It was his responsibility to stop this before it got out of hand.

"I know exactly what I'm saying. I's saying that I AM in LOVE with you." Said Mob flatly now. She was speaking Japanese, did he want it in English, too?

"You told Teru that you loved him, too." Said Reigen knowing full well that he was hitting below the belt. Yes, there, she broke eye contact. Good. Now he could comfort her and they could drink and watch TV and pretend like this never happened.

"…..I did….I really did….but…I love you more." Said Mob softly. She had made her choice and she chose Master Reigen. If he didn't want her then…then she could deal with that.

"…what…?" asked Reigen. He projected his shock. He knew that he was but he couldn't help it. He was having as hard enough controlling his powers as it was and then she just had to go and drop yet another bomb on him.

"That's why we broke up. He told me that he knew how I felt about you and that I needed to pick. It was either him or you. I chose you." Said Mob. Well, she had asked for a day to think about it and he had broken up with her right then and there but she hadn't exactly thrown herself on the ground and begged him to take her back.

"Mob…no…you shouldn't have…why would you do something like that?" asked Reigen, his mouth suddenly feelings very dry. He remembered that day. She had come home and just started crying. She had…she had…she had loved that kid but she had given it all up…for him…

"Because you're the person that I want to spend my entire life with. You're the person I want perpetuity with. I love you. I love you so much and I wish that you would just give me an answer already because I…I just need to know. I can't…I can't live like this anymore." Said Mob. She was starting to tear up. He reached over and wiped her eyes, his hand lingering on her cheek. She looked up at him.

"Mob…how long have you felt like this for?" asked Reigen. He couldn't just ignore this, now. He had always been a sucker for her tears. He had never been able to say no to her. He…he couldn't just sweep this under the rug. He couldn't ignore this.

"Since I was fourteen. At first I think I just wanted to have…instrumentality….with you. That's what it was, at first, but then you saved my life. You saved my life and I saved yours." Said Mob putting her hand over his. He didn't pull away. He sighed.

"Shigeko…Mob…there's not any coming back from this. If this…if this is how you really feel then we can't go back. You can't…you can't un-say I love you." Said Reigen. Today was over. Tomorrow was coming. Their tomorrow was coming.

"Master…you know that I don't want to go back. I just want an answer. I just want you to say yes or no. That's all I want." Said Mob. She was crying a little again. He wiped her tears away.

"Mob…what happens if I say no? Do you what that would do to us?" asked Reigen. They couldn't get past a no. She would be heartbroken. He would be an asshole. The two of them would truly go their separate ways now.

"Then…then I would be sad." Said mob softly. He was saying no. That was fine. She could always…move back in with her parents. She could always do that. She could find another job, or just start her own business. Spirits and Such but without the such…

"Then what would happen?" asked Reigen. He couldn't say no. He couldn't shatter her heart into a thousand tiny pieces. He didn't want to be that person. He didn't…he didn't want to shatter his own heart, either. He didn't want to put her through that. He didn't want to hurt her. He didn't want to hurt himself.

"I would…we would go our separate ways…if that's what you want." Said Mob softly. Tears were flowing more freely now. Reigen felt his heart twist into a knot. His heart, his lungs, his stomach, all of his internal organs were twisting and turning. No. That was the last thing he wanted.

"Mob…what if I said yes?" said Reigen. She tensed up.

"You…want us to go our separate ways?" asked Mob. Something in the kitchen shattered. The lights began to flicker above them. Reigen put his hands on her shoulders.

"No. What I mean is….what if I returned your feelings? What if I said yes?" asked Reigen softly. He could do it, he could say yes. He could say yes to her. If saying yes meant that she would still be with him…if it meant that she would be his…he was crying now. Her feelings, he was catching her feelings.

"Then I would be so happy, Master…I would be so happy…" said Mob. She smiled, now. Was he saying yes? He was smiling, too. Her feelings. He was feeling her feelings now.

"Then what?" asked Reigen. What was her plan for this? For them? Could he actually say yes? How would it look? What would people say? Hell, her brother would probably kick his ass up one side of the street and down the other. Their fans would…half would love them even more and half would feel vindicated because they had been calling him a creep for years.

"Then we would be together forever in perpetuity like I promised." Said Mob. Yes. He was saying yes. He must have been.

"Mob…have you thought about how this looks? How it would look?" asked Reigen, his hands still on her shoulders. This looked bad. This looked like the kind of thing that that society would frown upon. He was so much older than her…and he had known her since she was eleven.

"To who?" asked Mob. Who was there with them right now? What invisible observer was sticking his nose where it didn't belong?

"To everyone, Mob. To your parents, to my mother, to your brother, to your friends, to our fans, to our haters, to everyone we've ever come in contact with. Mob…this looks bad. I knew you when you were eleven. You've been living here with me since you were fourteen. Do you know how this looks?" asked Reigen. Had she even thought about it? Of course not. She was young. She was still so young that she thought that she could take on the entire world. She thought that she had every single answer to every single question. She thought that she had all of this under control. Well, she didn't. She really didn't. Neither of them did.

"I don't care. I'm done trying to be the person everyone else thinks that I should be. I thought that I was wasting my youth, before. Now I realize that the best times in my life have been with you. I'm not sad about joining clubs and making friends and having all the experiences that I did. I'm not sad at all, even about Teru. I know, now, what I want and what I want is you. You're the person I want to spend my life with. I don't care what my family thinks. I haven't lived with my parents since I was fourteen and even then I was so incredibly unhappy. I'm not eleven and I'm not fourteen. I'm eighteen and I know what I want. I want to be with you. I don't care at all what anyone else thinks as long as I'm with you." Said Mob. There. That was the pure and utter truth.

"Did you think about how this would look for me? Mob, I'm fourteen years older than you. It looks like I…like I took advantage of you. It looks like I've been….like I've been waiting." Said Reigen. He knew exactly what his mother would have to say. His father might even break radio silence to tell him how wrong he thought this was. They had their fans to think about, too. They had been running their Spirits and Such channel for four years. They were still minor internet celebrities at best but they did have fans around the world. What would they think? Half would most certainly abandon them. Then what? What happened to their business?

"The age of consent here is fourteen. If you wanted to have sex with me then you could have had sex with me four years ago. Why would people think that you waited?" asked Mob not getting it at all. So what if he was older. Love was love. They weren't hurting anyone. They weren't breaking any laws.

"You've been waiting. You've been waiting for me then. Mob, do you honestly not care how this looks? That this might be bad for business?" asked Reigen. She shook his hands from her shoulders.

"You said that you would never use me again. I am not a meal ticket. I don't care if this will be good or bad for business but if that's all you care about-" said Mob before she was cut off.

"No. I am not ever going to use you again. Mob…I'm worried. I just…I just don't think that you've thought this through." Said Reigen. Mob glared at him.

"I've thought about nothing but this day for fourteen years. I am not a child. I want this. I want this and I want you. I want this and I want you and I want an answer." Said Mob. Yes or no. That was all that he needed to say. She didn't care if it was in Japanese or English or any other languages that he spoke. She just needed an answer already.

"If I say yes then what? What's your plan for us?" asked Reigen. She had said that she wanted perpetuity. She had promised him that when she was fourteen. She was older now. Did she even know what that would mean?

"My plan is that we're a couple. My plan is that I can kiss you and hold your hand. My plan is that I'm your girlfriend. I want us to be together. I want us to be together forever. Why can't you understand that?" asked Mob. Reigen sighed. He could feel it, her resolve. The maelstrom of emotions that she was projecting. Hurt. Rejection. Hope. Romantic love. Caring. Fear. Anticipation. All of it bubbling like a pot of milk left on the stove for too long.

"Then what? I'm your boyfriend, and then what?" asked Reigen quietly. How far ahead had she planned? What did she want from him? if she had just wanted one big today then she could have just left well enough alone.

"Then we'll always be together. Then you'll be mine and I'll be yours. We could…we could live here forever. Maybe we could save up enough and get an apartment with a bathtub and a washer and dryer, or even a house. We could go out together and have fun, but as a couple. We could…I would kiss you. I would kiss you and you'd kiss me back. We could have a life together with a house and friends and…and a family. Sometimes…sometimes I think about us…about us having a family together. We have a boy, he's…he's called Shigeo. He's like me but he has both of us to help him. I teach him how to use his powers because he would have mine and you would teach him about life and how to be a good person just like you taught me. That's my plan…Master that's all that I want." Said Mob taking a shaking breath.

"Mob…I had no idea…." Said Reigen. Ok, so she had thought this through. A life. A house. A family. A child….he could…yes….he could. She painted a pretty picture. A son. A child. Shigeo. The male version of Shigeko, her given name. She wanted a child with him. He wasn't…no…he wanted a child. He liked it…he liked being that person to someone. She wanted a home, a life, and a child with him. He wanted to give her those things. He could give her those things. He already put a roof over her head. He already spent most of his life with her. A child. She was too young…was she? He wouldn't…he wasn't opposed to the picture that she painted. She wanted to have a child with him. She wanted to make a child with him.

**Oh God.**

"That's what I want. That's what I want my life, our lives, to be." Said Mob softly. She took his hand in his. Yes or no. That was all she was asking him for. That was all that she wanted.

"Mob…you're asking me to….you want to make a child with me?" asked Reigen. Mob wanted him. Mob **wanted** him. He wasn't naïve or stupid. He knew full well that she wasn't some sacred virgin. Hell, he had been the one to take her to the clinic for the first time. Still…the idea of her…of them…could he…? Could they….?

"…yes. Not right away but that's what I want. I want…I want instrumentality with you." Said Mob. That was what it felt like to her. When she went to LCL with somebody and there were no boundaries between her and him. When they became one person and time became meaningless. Also, she liked Evangelion a lot.

"Mob…say the actual word." Said Reigen softly. If she wanted this then she would have to be straightforward with what she wanted. He needed to hear her **say** it. Otherwise then it wouldn't be **right**. It wouldn't be **real.**

"….I want to have sex with you…" said Mob softly. Reigen swallowed what little saliva he had left. She had said it. She had said it and this was real and she…she **wanted** him. She was sitting there, holding his hand, and baring her soul to him.

"Mob….this isn't something that we can take back. If we…if I say yes…if we agree to this…Mob things are going to change." Said Reigen softly. If she had said that to him four years ago he would have run out of the room screaming. She had been a child, then. She had been a child but she…she was not a child anymore. She was a grown woman. She was a grown woman and she was approaching him as a man. Not as Master Reigen but as Reigen Arataka.

"I know. I want this so badly I don't care what changes. I don't think that it would be bad. I think…I've wanted this with you for so long…please…just say yes…say yes or say no but please say something…please…" said Mob, her voice barely audible. Reigen could feel himself getting pulled into the maelstrom of her emotion. She wanted an answer. She needed an answer. She deserved an answer.

"…yes…" said Reigen just as softly. He could feel a fearful sort of anticipation burst into bloom within himself. This was hers. This feeling was hers.

"What?" asked Mob running through all of the ways in which she could have misconstrued his answer.

"Kageyama Shigeko…Mob….yes. Yes, I want to be with you. I…I love you. I love you, Mob." Said Reigen taking her face in his hands. He tilted her face up by her chin, he leaned in close. He was so close he could feel her breathing. Her face was flushed. His face was flushed. He was doing this. He was really going to do this. He was going to do this with **Mob**. It…it felt right. It felt so right.

"Master…." Said Mob. This was like in her dreams, her fantasies. He was so close and he…he wanted her….

"No. Not now. Not when…not when we're like this. It's just…Mob…don't call me Master anymore." Said Reigen. That part was over now. He wasn't her Master anymore. Now he was her…he was her partner now. Now they were equals.

"What should I call you?" asked Mob closing her eyes. This was better than a dream. This was reality. He was there. He was right there. He was so close. She could smell him. Aftershave. Incense. Ramen. Cigarettes. Reigen Arataka.

"Call me…call me by my name." said Reigen. She was so close. He was going to do this. No going back. He was going to kiss her. He was going to turn the page on today. He was going to face tomorrow. He was going to face tomorrow with her. She was his and he was hers.

"Reigen…Arataka. Arataka. **Arataka**." Said Mob breathlessly. He could feel her feelings, her anticipation. Her want. Her desire. Him. He was the one making her feel like this.

"Shigeko." Said Reigen. Her eyebrows creased.

"Mob." Said Mob. She was Mob. Shigeko…the other called itself Shigeko. She was not Shigeko. She was Mob. She would always be Mob.

"Mob." Said Reigen. He leaned in and closed the gap between them. Star shine. Angel wine. That was what she was. She was like star shine and angel wine. She was perfection. The kiss itself was chaste, if anything. He pulled away from her after a second. She leaned into him with a whine.

"Arataka….please…" said Mob. Yes. It was everything she had ever wanted it to be. This was what she had been waiting for. She had been waiting **years** for this but it was **worth **the wait. He had felt like sunshine. Sunshine and cold milk. Happy making. He was making her happy. She was making him happy. She could feel him, his powers. He was like the touch of a summer breeze in her hair. Invisible but everywhere. Gentle but firm.

"Mob…Mob….what do you want?" asked Reigen as he pressed his forehead to hers. No going back. He could feel it, her want. Her need. She wanted him so badly. She wanted to…she wanted to share herself with him. He…he wanted to share himself with her.

"You. I want you." Said Mob, her breathing heavy. She lowered the couch back to the ground. She had tasted him and she wanted more. There was a feast waiting for her and she had barely even gotten a taste.

"Mob…if we…if we have…..sex…..then we-" said Reigen. He was silence by a kiss. Her kiss. She had crashed her mouth onto his artlessly. This was pure desire. She wasn't trying to impress him. She wasn't trying to do it right. She just wanted to taste him. She just wanted to be with him.

"Arataka. I do not ever want to go back. Do you understand? I want this." Said Mob before she kissed him again. Her mouth was opened this time. Their teeth scraped. She hadn't' scraped teeth with anyone in years. She hadn't wanted anyone this badly in years. Her hands made their way to his shoulders. They were just as broad as she had imagined. He reached behind her and put a hand firmly on her back. The other one began to play with her hair.

"Fuck…." Said Reigen as they broke apart for air. Their world was a bursts of color. Her aura, his, their. The room was a kaleidoscope. Bubblegum pink, cyan blue, custard yellow. Each color moved in rapid fractals around them. He was seeing the full aural spectrum. Her power. She was filling him with her power. She was pouring herself into him and he was accepting it.

"Yes." Said Mob, her breathing as heavy as it was after any workout. Her fingers dug into his back. Layers. He had on too many layers. His suit coat, his button down, his undershirt. Just too much. What did he **feel** like? She leaned in kissed him again. He leaned back.

"Not here." Said Reigen. She deserved better than their old, hard as a rock, couch. They were doing this. He was doing this. He was going to do this with Mob. She wanted him. She wanted this and she wanted him.

"Bed." Mob managed to choke out. Japanese was hard for her. There were just too many words and she wanted so much that it was hard to put them together. This was it. This was everything that she had been wishing for, waiting for, praying for.

"We're actually going to…fuck…we're actually doing this." said Reigen. He was going to have sex with Mob. Mob. His Mob. Yes. She was his Mob, wasn't she? She was his now.

"Arataka…want you…" said Mob kissing him again. She held it, she deepened it. He opened his mouth, he granted her entrance. He felt her tongue probing. It was as if she was taking inventory, making sure that they were the same. Teeth? Check. Tongue? Check. Wisdom teeth removal scar? Check. He kissed her back, slowly. He met her movements. She shrank back when his tongue met hers. He took this moment to grant himself entrance. Star shine and angel wine. Sweet wine. The sweetest wine he had ever tasted. He pulled her close. Her arms were around him, now. She was in his hair. She worked her fingers through it. He pulled her half into his lap. She ground herself into him. The skirt of her dress was up around her thighs, now.

"Mob…not here. Come on." Said Reigen. He eased her off of him and stood up on shaking legs. She looked up at him. Her hair was a mess. It floated around her head like a halo. Her mouth was swollen, kiss bruised. She was trembling. She wanted him that badly that she was **trembling. ** He wasn't much better. Thank God his suit coat hung so low. He knew where her eyes kept wandering towards.

"I can't walk." Said Mob. Her legs felt like jelly. She was going to explode if they didn't, soon. She had been waiting and waiting and waiting. She couldn't wait anymore.

"Here. Come on. You…this isn't the place. This isn't comfortable." Said Reigen. He reached over and helped her up. He pupils were so dilated he couldn't even see the brown of her eyes anymore. He probably wasn't much better.

"You bed, not mine. You should be comfortable." Said Mob as she walked, shakily, to the bedroom. To their bedroom. Her futon was still folded up in the corner like it had been awaiting her return all day. She wouldn't need it tonight. She sat down on Master Reigen's….on Arataka's bed. He joined her. They sat side by side for a moment. The spell that they had been under had broken.

"Mob. Mob, do you still want this?" asked Reigen. She was sitting on his bed waiting for him. How many times had they shared this bed? Not for this purpose but they had shared it. They shared it when one or both of them was hurting. When they needed each other. When they needed to share each other, for strength. Now he was going to share himself with her. He was going to share himself with her and she was going to share herself with him.

"Of course I do. Do you?" asked Mob. The room looked different from up here. They had shared this room for years. They had been sharing this room and almost every night that she had spent in this room she had dreamed of this exact moment.

"…more than anything else in the world." Said Reigen. Any doubt that he had previously felt was cast aside. This was right. This was perfect. This was him and her together.

"Arataka." Said Mob testing out the word. His name. He had granted her his name. Equals. They were equals, now. This was their perfect happy ending. This was everything that she had ever wanted. This was…why was she nervous? The bed made it more real. She hadn't done this in so long. But he had. He had done this so many times and with so many people. No. Green was an ugly color on everyone. This was about him and her together.

"Yes?" asked Reigen watching her face. She was thinking about something.

"I was just…" said Mob softly. Reigen kissed her. She responded with a mew that went right through him. That sound…that sound did more for him right then in that moment than anything else in his entire life had before.

"Testing it out?" asked Reigen when the broke apart. He laid her down so they were side by side. He reached over and put his hand on the dip in her waist. The other hand propped his head up.

"Yes….it's new." Said Mob. Master. He wasn't Master Reigen anymore. There was no turning back. Right. She couldn't go back, she couldn't put the toothpaste back in the tub. She just had to start brushing.

"I…it's nice when you say it. Mob…I love the way you say my name. I love you. I love you so much. You have no idea…you've been my everything. You have been my lighthouse, my rock, my strength. You have been my saving grace and I love you." Said Reigen. Real. The bed made it more real. She needed to know this. She needed to hear this. She needed to hear this before they went any further.

"Master….you've been my everything, too. You made me who I am. You have been everything to me and I don't know who I would be without you." Said Mob telling the full truth. He was her saving grace and she loved him.

"Mob…no…not when we're like this. I'm not…I'm not that man to you, anymore." Said Reigen. He had been Master Reigen when she was a child. She wasn't a child anymore. She was his equal.

"Sorry…habit." Said Mob. She scooted closer, pressing more of her body against his. He gasped as she pushed against his hardness. His fingers dug into her side, into that dip in her waist that he seemed to love.

"Mob…oh God…" said Reigen before he kissed her again. He moved from her mouth down, all the down to her neck. He had seen her hickeys, the ones from before, he knew where she liked to be kissed. He wouldn't leave a mark, though. He knew better than that.

"Arataka! Yes! There!" said Mob squirming against him. His other hand found her thigh and crept upwards. She gasped and something in the room tipped over. Neither of them cared what it was. It didn't matter, not really. Nothing mattered but them. The world had ceased to exist beyond the confines of this room.

Mob pulled at his tie trying to get it lose. He broke the kiss and pulled it off. He tossed it off the side of the bed but it got caught up in the current on her powers. She sat up and pushed his suit coat from his shoulders. She tossed it over the side of the bed and it joined his tie. Reigen let her peel back his layers. She let her deconstruct the Reigen Arataka he tried to be. Off went his tie, his suit coat. She was trying to undo his buttons with shaking fingers. He tried to help her. He was trembling, too. He decided to just say fuck it and pulled it off over his head half buttoned. She reached a shaking hand to the hem of his undershirt.

"You can, if you want to." Said Reigen softly. She had never seen him that undressed before. He saw her take a deep breath.

"…ok…" said Mob. She couldn't use her hands. No, she was shaking too much. She pulled it up and tossed it away. Oh. Wow. She reached a hand up.

"You can touch me if you want to." Said Reigen. She was taking him in, drinking him in. It was almost like she couldn't believe her eyes. No woman had ever looked at him like that before. She reached a shaking hand up and rested it over his heart. She held it there and stared. She stared and she stared at she stared.

"I can feel your heartbeat." Said Mob suddenly. It was beating so fast that it didn't even feel like it was beating. It felt more like it was humming. She leaned in and kissed his chest over his heart. She kissed his chest a few times while her hand made it's way up.

"Oh! Mob…watch the nails." Said Reigen. She was certainly enthusiastic, he'd give her that. She was still shaky, still inexperienced. A part of him, the jealous part, wanted her like this. She had some idea of what to do but she wasn't an expert. He knew for a fact that she was not a virgin and he also knew for a fact that he wasn't either. He had no right to be jealous.

"Sorry. I didn't know if you liked this. I like it but you're a completely different person than I am." Said Mob as she ran the pad of her thumb over him. She ran her thumb over it. She liked it, she should. She was getting a vague sort of feeling like it was happening to her. She rolled her shoulders. She wished that she was out of her bra. She wished that she was out of all of her clothes. Too many layers. There were too many layers between them.

"What else do you like?" asked Reigen. Usually he just made it up as he went along. Everyone woman was different but he had a few general things that he did that they all seemed to like. Mob was different. This was just him deciding to be irresponsible. This wasn't just him jumping into bed with someone he had just met and had no intention of ever seeing again. This was Mob. This was Mob and he was going to do whatever it took to please her into a puddle.

"…a lot of things…" said Mob. She didn't want to think about that because then she would think about how she figured what she liked…who she figured it out with. She wanted to figure it out again with Master Reigen. With Arataka.

"Anything, you know, specific? A lot of things can encompass a lot of things." Said Reigen. He actually had no idea what Mob was into. She could have been into some really weird stuff for all he knew. Not that he was much better. Well, not that he'd have her do any weird stuff. No, this was about her. This was her night. This was something that she had been looking forward to for years, she had said. This was for her.

"Hold onto me and I'll hold onto you." Said Mob finally. She liked touch. She liked being kissed and caressed. She wanted that more than anything else at that moment. She wanted that with him so badly that she didn't know what she would do if he didn't touch her. If he didn't kiss her and hold her and everything else that she liked.

"What else do you like? This is about you, Mob. I want to…I want this to be the way you've always imagined." Said Reigen. He wanted to fulfil her every fantasy. Whatever she wanted he would do. This was all about her.

"This is what I always imagined. It wasn't about what we did but the fact that I was with you." Said Mob running her fingers through his chest hair. They were reddish blonde, like the hair on his head, and kind of hard to see. She ran her fingers down a little lower. It connected to the hair on his belly which then made a train that went down below his belt.

"I want to make you happy, Mob, so tell me how to." Said Reigen stifling a gasp as she began to trace her fingers over his belt buckle.

"What about you? What do you like?" asked Mob as she dragged her fingers up over his belt buckle. His slacks did nothing to hide how much he wanted this. She dipped her fingers a little lower. He bucked up into her hand. She tried to repeat her action but he pushed her hand away.

"Mob…let me make you happy. This is for you. You're the one who's been thinking about this for four years. Tell me how to make you happy. Or maybe….I could just figure it out for myself." Said Reigen as his hand found her thigh. He traced his fingers up and down on the side of her thigh, under her dress. She dug her fingers into his side as he found the elastic band of her underwear.

This was real.

"You can…you can figure it out if you want to…and then I'll…figure out what you want." Said Mob softly, so softly. She wanted to make him happy. She wanted to find out everything about him. What made him moan, gasp, and cry out? What would turn him to LCL with her? How could they achieve instrumentality together?

"Mob. No. This is for you." Said Reigen as he played with the elastic band of her underwear. She was squirming now, squirming into him. His touch. He dragged a finger across the band and to the junction between her thighs. She gasped and rocked up into his hand. He could feel the bed, their bed, swaying. She was half floating, too. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused. She wanted this. She wanted this and she wanted him.

"No…both of us. This is for both of us…." Said Mob. It couldn't just be about her, that would be selfish. He was teasing her now. She closed her legs around his hand and rocked. That was just how she felt, right then, she needed him to touch her. She needed to be touched and felt and loved and pleased because it **burned**. She had never felt want like this in her life. She could feel it burning under her skin just like her powers **burned** and she just needed some relief. She needed him, too. She needed to make him feel good because unless he felt good too then she would never know relief.

"Hey….hey Mob….you look like…star shine. Right now you look like star shine. You look like a drop of star shine. Come back…come back down to Earth." Said Reigen shakily. She was beautiful. He had often imagined her as a drop of goodness come down to Earth but she was more than that. She was sunshine and star shine and she tasted of angel wine. The sweetest thing that he would ever taste. Her kisses were the sweetest, the warmest, the best that he had ever had. Love. He could feel her love and she could feel his. Positive feedback loop. He would ride it. He would ride it until it's very end. She was so beautiful. There was just so much light. This was from her, from him, from them. Pink, blue, and yellow. White, too. From under her skin. Her skin was cracked, like porcelain. He felt it, her love and her desire. He ached. He ached because she ached and she ached because he ached. He needed to give her some relief.

"I don't want to. I can hear you but I don't want to. I can feel you…I can feel everything about you….you love me. Arataka. You love me and I love you. Please…." Said Mob. She reached a hand down. She trailed it down his stomach and began to use her powers to undo his belt. He leaned over her, his hand out from under her dress, and he pressed her back down onto the mattress. The springs had seen better days and groaned under her weight. She had undone his felt. She could feel him straining against his boxers. She used her powers to push his pants down his hips.

"Slow down, Mob we have…we have all night." Said Reigen. The world was a kaleidoscope. The world was black. The world was white. The world was pink. The world was blue. The world was just them. The world was just the two of them. It had ceased to exist.

"We have forever. We have perpetuity." Said Mob breathlessly. She let him go. They did have time, didn't they? Then why was she rushing? She wanted him. She wanted to feel every single inch of him. She rocked up against him. This earned her a deep, low groan. He leaned over and she tilted her head up to kiss him. He leaned down near her ear.

"You're a drop of star shine right now, Mob. Oh God you're so…you're so perfect. You're so incredibly perfect... Let me-let me bring you back down to Earth." Said Reigen, his hand finding her hair. He let himself sink down and took her ear lobe between his teeth. She was rocking so quickly now, it was like she was trying to start a fire between them. Like they were dry kindling. He let himself rock down onto her. The skirt of her dress was up over her stomach now. Reigen could feel her. She was anything but dry.

"Mas-Arataka. Please." Said Mob. He was holding her down. He was holding her down or she'd float away. She'd float far away, into the ceiling, the sky, the stars above. He kept her there, grounded, for him. She was grasping onto him, her nails were digging into his back. It hurt, but the good kind of hurt. God, how many women had dug their nails into his back? None of them had been this enthusiastic. None of them had ever looked up at him like he was the answer to all of their hopes and dreams, thoughts and prayers.

He kissed her ear, taking her earlobe in his teeth briefly. He bit her, slightly, not enough to hurt. She shuddered as he did. He gave her hair a little tug, too, as he kissed his was down her face. He stopped at her lips. He kissed her once, twice, thrice. Each time he deepened it a little more. As he pulled away she lifted herself up to try and follow him. He kissed his way down to her neck, stopping occasionally to take the skin between his teeth. He bit her, a little, not anywhere near hard enough to leave a mark.

She was most certainly going to leave a mark, though. He hadn't been kidding about her nails. They were long, not super long but they were longer than his. He was a habitual nail biter after all. Her nails were digging into his back. He didn't have to look to see the long red lines she left in her wake as she gasped and moaned and begged. Oh God the **begging….**

"Please…Please Master. Please, Arataka. Please…please I want this…" said Mob. He was still teasing her. She wished that he would suck harder, bite harder. She didn't care if he left marks. She healed fast. Her legs were on either side of him. She could have him. She could have had him if there weren't so many **layers** between them.

"Slow down. Let me make this good for you. We can only do this for the first time once." Said Reigen. He worked slowly. Most of the time women appreciated it. His hands, his mouth, they were what had gotten him to this point in his life. They were his greatest asset. He ought to have them insured. Now he was going to do whatever it took to make Mob come apart. He also needed a moment to remember himself, to collect himself. He could feel the ghosts of her physical sensations now. It felt good. It felt amazing. He enjoyed it but he needed to keep himself separate. He needed to keep this about her. This was for her.

"But we can do it again and again." Said Mob wrapping her legs around him. He shook her lose and sat up. She made a noise of disappointment until he found the hem of her dress. He pulled it up. First over her thighs, then her stomach. The cool air felt refreshing against her overheated skin. He tried to pull it up over her breasts but it got stuck.

"Wait…there's buttons." Said Mob. She used her powers to undo the first two buttons but he reached down and did the rest with trembling hands. Hers were easier than his, her buttons were so much larger. He slipped each large white disk through its corresponding opening until there simply weren't any left. Mob looked away. Master Reigen was looking at her. No. Arataka was looking at her. He was seeing her. He was actually seeing her.

Reigen didn't do anything for a moment. He had never seen Mob this undressed before in his life. He could see the swell of her breasts, her nipples trying to poke out through the think white cotton of her bra. He pushed her dress from her shoulders and down her arms. He ran his hands up and down her arms. Goosebumps. He wasn't much better. She reached a shaking hand up and mirrored his motions. He had hair on his arms too, a lot of it. It was just light and hard to see. She couldn't imagine anything about him being hard to see. He was so bright, he burned so brightly. Anyone, anyone who could see the aural spectrum, could see them. They were bright, so bright.

"Mob…tell me what you want." Said Reigen as he she touched him. He needed to hear her. He needed to hear her ask for it. To ask him for it. For everything she wanted.

"LCL. I want to turn to LCL with you." Said Mob. That was what she wanted. She wanted to feel the boundaries between the two of them come tumbling down. She wanted them to become one person. She wanted to take him within her. She wanted him to have her and she wanted to have him.

"Mob…use the real words for things. I need to hear you actually say it. You're an adult now, Mob." Said Reigen. He needed to hear her say it. He needed to know what she wanted. He needed to hear her **say** it. She was an adult now. She could use the actual words.

"Arataka…touch me." Said Mob. She knew the actual words for things, for what she wanted to do. Have sex. Make love. Become one. She even knew the curse word for it, the word that she had never used in her life. Fuck. It sounded as foreign in her mind as English or Chinese. She couldn't say it. That wasn't who she was. That wasn't what they were.

"Tell me where." Said Reigen, his voice an octave deeper. Mob. This was Mob. This was Mob and she was asking him to touch her. He would. He would give her whatever he could, he had to. She didn't say a word, she just leaned up into him. He was still half on top of her. None of his weight was on her but she was under him. She pressed her entire body against his and she was just so…warm.

"Everywhere." Said Mob. She leaned up and kissed his neck. She bit him, maybe too hard. She bit and sucked and he groaned. He groaned and begged and oh God he rocked into her. She felt it, that slimy slickness. She knew that he could feel it to. She wanted him to. This was how he made her feel. This was how she wanted to feel. Her life was her own and his life was his own so why not just **do** it already because they both so obviously wanted it.

Reigen kissed his way down her chest until he found the strap of her bra. He lifted himself off of her, she rose to follow him. She was weightless, it was like they were in space. Her hair flowed around her, too. She looked like she was on even a different plane of existence than him. He needed to bring her back down to Earth. He bit her bra strap and moved it out of the way with his teeth. His hands busied themselves behind her. Two hooks. He could get this. Oh. She got it for him.

Mob wanted him to get on with it. She wanted to feel good, to make him feel good. She had been waiting for this for so long. She wanted him to touch her, to make her feel good, to make him feel good. She let her hands wander up and down his back. No nails this time. She just felt him. No. She needed to stop rushing. He was there and he was real and she was there and she was real and the two of them had all night. They had every night. They could do this every single night. Every morning. Every day.

It was dizzying.

Reigen pushed her bra off and tossed it into the gentle drift that her powers had created. Everything light, everything that was light enough to get picked up in the gentle current of her power orbited them. They themselves, this bed, swayed gentle back and forth as if in some invisible current or breeze. He sat up and just looked at her for a moment. She was blushing. Blushing and flushing as he gazed down at her. She looked up at him. She reached up and caressed the side of his face. Stubble. She could barely see it but it was there. She held eye contact with him. He held it right back before kissing her. He kissed her softly, slowly, while his hand reached down her chest, around her waist, up her rib cage, and finally to her breast.

"Yes…" said Mob breathlessly. She closed her eyes and just let herself feel what he did. First he sort of palmed her breast, like he was afraid she would shatter into a thousand pieces. She groaned and let herself move down into his touch. He reached up and found its peak. He ran it between his thumb and index finger. She was saying something, she didn't know what. Was it even in Japanese anymore? She was asking him to keep going. She was begging him to touch her. She rocked into him as best as she could. Her dress was around her waist, her socks were pooled around her ankles. His pants were half off, he could feel him straining against his boxers. Black, probably, or blue. They had done their laundry together enough times to know each other's clothes. She wished she had worn something nicer. Her bra was plain white, her underwear was white with pink cats. She should have worn something more grown up. Silk, black silk. Lacy black silk. Black bra. Not that she really needed it.

"Mob…you ok?" asked Reigen. She had gone all non-responsive. He stopped moving. Whatever she wanted he'd give to her. If she wanted to stop then he would stop. Was she…second thoughts? He watched her face, her emotions. No, she still wanted this, wanted him.

"Yes…I'm fine. I was just thinking." Said Mob softly. He stopped moving. Why had he stopped moving? Did he not want to, anymore?

"You know, we can stop whenever you want to, right?" said Reigen. She was Mob. She was Mob and maybe…no…there was no going back. This was what they were to each other now. He couldn't be Master Reigen again. He was Arataka to her, now. He was Arataka and she was Mob and they together. They were…they were together…now.

"I don't want to stop. I was just thinking that…I don't know. I was just thinking that I don't look…I mean I still look like I'm…" said Mob. She knew how she looked. She wasn't a child anymore but she didn't have a big bouncy chest. She still wore long dresses and skirts and even her hair was still the same. Maybe she was just thinking about herself because she was so undressed. She was undressed and he wat her and they were there and going to do this and she had imagined this so many times but this was so real and she wanted it so badly but now that she was there and almost naked and-

"Mob. You look fine. Stop caring about how you look." Said Reigen. She was there and she wanted him and he wanted her and, yes, there was no going back. There was no going back but he…he didn't want to go back. Did he? No. He had decided that he wanted this. He wanted to make her happy. He wanted this because it would make her happy.

"You don't think I look like a kid?" asked Mob. Reigen kissed her.

"Mob, don't make this any weirder than it has to be. You're not a kid anymore, I wouldn't be doing this with you if you were still a kid. You don't look at all like a kid. OK? Stop feeling so self-couscous. This is weird for about a thousand different reasons but the way you look isn't one of them." Said Reigen. He had known her when she was eleven. That was the cherry on the weirdness ice cream Sunday that was their…relationship? Relationship.

"I don't think that this is weird." Said Mob softly. She thought that this felt right. This felt like the natural path that they would take together.

"I know what you think." Said Reigen absently playing with her breast. This didn't feel super weird. This felt…this felt right. He hadn't planned this, he certainly hadn't thought that this was where they would end up, but it felt right. This. Them. Him. Her.

"You know what I want. Why don't you? Why do you keep on…waiting…?" said Mob. She wanted to be with him. She wanted them to come together. She had been imagining it. She had been dreaming of this for what felt like forever. Four years. Felt like forty.

"Because I want this to be good for you. God, Mob, you're so young. Don't just jump in. I want to make you happy. I want to make you feel good. You deserve it. You've always deserved it. You've always deserved the best, Mob." Said Reigen. He swirled his finger around her nipple. It was hard, like a hard little gumdrop. She was squirming, again. She was so young. She wanted everything and she wanted it right now.

"But you won't let me make you feel good." Said Mob. She had tried reaching down so many times but he stopped her. Why? What was with him? He wanted this, right?

"Mob…this is for you. I told you that this is for you. Next time, maybe, can be for me." Said Reigen. Next time. There would be a next time. She wanted more than this with him. She wanted him totally and completely. She wasn't just someone he had picked up. She wasn't just a phone number that been surreptitiously slipped to him. This was Mob. This was Mob and she was there and she wanted forever and this would happen again and again and again. He wanted it to.

"Tomorrow?" asked Mob. The sun would come up and it would be a new day. How would they look in the light of day? Tomorrow. She was finally getting a tomorrow with him. Today, their big today, was over. It would be tomorrow. Tomorrow would be their new today.

"Tomorrow." Said Reigen. Tomorrow would be there soon. The clock would strike midnight and their today would end. He had wanted an endless today with her. Now, he didn't want that. Today was yesterday and tomorrow was today. Their new today would be tomorrow. There was no going back and that was fine.

Reigen leaned down and took her into his mouth. She squealed at the unexpected contact. Her hands found his hair. She ran her fingers through it. She ran her fingers up and down, feelings every strand of hair. He experimented, he tried to find what she liked. He swirled his tongue, slowly, and then quickly. That got him a low moan. He bit her, a little, and that got him a gasp and his hair pulled. He went to the other one. His hand picking up the slack where his tongue left off.

"Master…you're amazing." Said Mob trying her best to remember Japanese. She felt him tense. Right. No. He wasn't Master anymore.

"Arataka, you're amazing." Said Mob a little more firmly, less breathlessly. He relaxed and began to kiss his way down her stomach. She laughed, a little, because she was ticklish there. He smiled and kissed her there a few times. She laughed and tried to squirm away. He kissed his way down, lower. Instinctively she closed her legs quickly.

"You don't want me to?" asked Reigen. Pity. He honestly did enjoy going down on women. He was told he was good at it.

"No. I mean yes. I mean I don't know why I did that." Said Mob. She had thought about it. Usually they were at work. A client had cancelled, it was raining, some paper thin excuse to keep them inside and alone. They would just be talking until suddenly her thighs ended up around his shoulders. She'd be sitting on his desk, he'd be kneeling in front of her.

"If you don't want me to-" said Reigen. She sat herself up and pulled off her dress, what was left of it on, with her powers. She was sitting there in just her underwear. White with cats. That was so Mob. He let his fingers play with her elastic waistband again. She was looking at him, now. She was thinking about something, maybe.

'I do. I do want you to." Said Mob laying herself back down. Intimate. She had just been startled by the intimacy of it. She wouldn't be, now. She wouldn't be anything other than happy. She liked this. Nobody had done this to her in a while but she still remembered how good it had felt. Would Master Reigen be good at it? She shuddered, that full body shudder that she did. She watched the lights flicker. Right. She had to keep it together. The other her wasn't angry or scared or anything. No she was…Mob poked her a little. She was impatient. They were both impatient. Hey, they agreed on something for once.

"Do you really?" asked Reigen as he ran his hand up and down her thigh. She spread her legs wider for him. She nodded. She was so flushed, now. She was always so pale, he didn't know that she even had that much blood in her body.

"Yeeeeeesssss." Said Mob dragging out each syllable. He dragged a single finger across her thighs to her juncture. Wow. She was absolutely **soaking **wet. He pressed a finger down on what he knew would be the center of pleasure for her. Hard. It was hard. He heard something breaking in the living room. Whatever. Whatever she broke they could fix. It was all cheap anyway, cheaper than at that Swedish store, Ikea, even. He didn't mind if she accidentally broke a few things. She felt good. That was what mattered between the two of them.

Mob had been wanting this for so long. The entire night. The entire day. Her entire life, maybe. He pressed down on that part of her, the one that needed, begged, demanded to be touched, to be stroked, to be felt. She wanted him to reach down, to reach under what little barrier she had left between them and show her **just **how good with his hands he could be. She could feel how swollen it was, how swollen with her want. Her need. She ached. She ached and he was still **teasing** her.

He pressed down a little harder, for a little longer. Mob was coming apart at the seams. She was flushed, there was a layer of sweat across her entire body. He could make her feel like this. He was going slowly. He did his best work when he went slowly. He was getting a good read on her, on what she liked. He was an empath, his did have powers, but if he let himself get tangled up in her he'd just end up in a puddle the same as her. He had skill and he would use it. She was the one with overwhelming power, he was the one with all the finesse. She was overwhelming power, wasn't she? At this point he knew for a fact that she was the most powerful esper on Earth, possibly ever, and there she was coming undone for him. A drop of star shine, of sunshine, or perfection, come down to Earth and all she wanted was **him. **

Somebody. He was somebody. She made him somebody.

He hooked his thumbs under her waist band and slowly dragged away the last barrier between them. Well, between her and him. He kicked his pants off as best as he could, he was sure that there was a way to make that look more graceful. She probably didn't care. She used her powers to help him. She was naked, totally naked, laid bare for him. She was staring up at him. He was staring down at her.

This was Mob. This was her. She was her and he was him and together they would be a them.

Mob lot out a shaky breath. This was real. Why did this feel real? Were there layers to reality? Every time they peeled off a layer of clothes it felt like she was peeling off a layer of reality. It was like relaxing her perceptions. If she really focused on keeping the world out it became washed out, practically in black and white. As she relaxed and aural spectrum became more visible then more and more color became apart. The world became more real. As she relaxed, as they relaxed, the world became softer. More real. More in color.

She was there. She was there and she was totally naked for him. She tried to sit still. She was a ball of nervous energy and desire. He put his hands on her thighs. Oh, she was floating away again. Right. She willed herself to stay laying down. She looked up at him. She tried to put all of her feelings into her face, her eyes, her aura. That was his power to feel feelings. Then he should have been able to feel hers. He should have known how she felt. How she just wanted him to reach down. How badly she wanted their relationship to work out. How badly she wanted to take the final step so that they could finally become one. He gasped.

"Mob…I'm trying not to feel your feelings." Said Reigen as he reached down and started to play, absently, with the coarse hair she had there. Huh. The hair on her head was always so soft.

"Why? Why don't you want to know how I feel?" asked Mob. She hated it when he hid himself from her. She hated it when he hid himself and tried to cut himself off from her. Rejected. She felt a little rejected.

"Mob…I know how you feel. I just…Mob I don't want to get overwhelmed, ok? You're loud. Maybe because of how strong you are or maybe because of how I…how I feel about you…but you're loud. I just…Mob I don't want to get lost in you. I want to focus on what I'm doing." Said Reigen as he ran his fingers up and down, getting closer and closer to where she wanted him to be. He let his fingers wander a little lower. How could she possible be so wet? He had barely done anything? She was younger, she expected less. She was used to less. He could show her more. He could show her everything that she had been missing.

"What are you doing?" asked Mob angling herself so that he was touching more of her. She was standing at attention, now, that part of her. He brushed his fingers over it so gently that she could barely feel him. He pressed down a little harder. She closed her eyes. He was trying things, now. Slow. Faster. Hard. Soft. She mewed when his fingers traveled even lower. That had been so, incredibly **good**. She wanted **more** but obviously he had other **plans**.

He was good with his hands. She had always known that about him. They spoke their own language even, sometimes. Well now they seemed to have their own way of doing things. She hadn't done this with another person in a while and Teru always just sort of rushed to the main event. Master Reigen took his time. He wasn't even…oh God why was he teasing her?! He was right there. Reach up. Reach in. Do **something.** Do **anything.**

She leaned forward so that he was just barely inside of her entrance. She leaned a little more forward and he let her. Her eyes were closed, she could only go by feel. She felt his weight shift. The mattress springs groaned. The bed tilted a little, like a boat on the sea. How high up were they? How high up had she carried them? She didn't know. She didn't care. She rocked into his fingers some more. Why wouldn't he just **move** already?

"Mob, be patient. What's your rush?" asked Reigen. She could feel where he was, now. He was hovering just above her. If he leaned down even just a centimeter more she could be in his mouth.

"I want you…." Said Mob with a whine. Just lean down, Arataka. Just do it.

"I know, I know you do." Said Reigen. He liked teasing her. Building her anticipation. He was so close he could taste her, if he wanted to. He let his tongue flick her this peak. He knew his way around a woman's body, he knew what this would do to her, for her. It was the gentlest touch but she would have rose to the ceiling if he hadn't held her down.

"Arataka….please….." Mob gasped out. Her eyes were still closed. She was worried, stupidly, that this entire thing would pop like a soap bubble if she opened her eyes. That she would wake up on her futon and she would be back in their endless today.

"This?" asked Reigen before he leaned back down. He let his tongue linger over it, he moved slowly. Angel wine. The sweetest wine. God, she was delicious. This got a sound that he hadn't even known that the human body was capable of making. With one hand he held her down by her thigh, with the other he began to move in and out of her. One finger, now two. Deeper, slightly, each time. He let himself feel what she felt for a moment before pulling back. Physical sensation. He had no equivalent for this. He felt a vague sort of pressure along himself and then the rest his mind was struggling to find the equivalent for.

"Yes! That!" said Mob. She practically threw herself against him. Yes. This. This was what she had wanted. She hadn't felt anything like this in so long…and it was with him. It was with Master Reigen. It was with Reigen Arataka. It was with Arataka. She could feel her power, the other her, trying to claw its way to the surface. She reached out to find something, anything, for this energy to do. She grabbed at something, oh, those were the dishes. Whatever, she could always put them back together. She had put an entire city back together. She could put a few plates and bowls back together. She could worry about this later. She focused on the now, on what she felt in the moment.

Reigen decided to stop teasing her. That sounded like the kitchen had exploded. Right. They still lived in an apartment and they still had neighbors. He didn't need the entire building pounding on his door asking what in the hell was going on in there. Mob was practically sobbing, too. He let himself get the briefest taste of her feelings. With pleasure, with happiness. She was grinding herself into him. Artless. She was artless. He wouldn't have her any other way. This was pure want, pure need. This was her wanting him and trying to get what she could, what she wanted, what she had been wanting from him for **years.**

He would oblige her. Besides, he was getting more and more entangled within her. Within her feelings, her emotions. She could barely control herself, now. He was practically keeping her pinned down. He tried to pull his head away, to slide out of his boxers and give her what she had been begging him for all night. She wrapped her legs around him. She could be strong, physically, when she wanted to. Or maybe he just hadn't noticed. Maybe this was what it took to get him to notice who she had become over the years. Or maybe the body improvement club had ended up paying off in the end.

"Don't stop….don't ever stop…Master…Arataka…don't ever stop." Moaned Mob. He was trying to pull away, now. Why? She wanted this, she needed this. She needed to have this with him. She wanted this with him so badly, worse than she had ever wanted anything in her life. She was so **close. **

"Mob, listen. If you finish then I finish. Do you understand? I don't…I don't want to finish yet." Said Reigen as he, barely, extracted himself from her vice like grip. Damn she was strong, her hands were in his hair again, too. What was with her and hair?

"But I don't want you to stop…." Said Mob. She wanted to finish. She wanted him to feel good. She wanted them both to feel good.

"Mob, I never said that I was going to stop. Now come on, let me up." Said Reigen. Mob waiting for a moment before releasing her grip on him. He sat up and pulled a few of her hairs from his mouth. She was looking at him like she thought that he was going to run away or shatter into a million tiny pieces or melt like ice cream on a hot summer's day.

Mob let him get up and watched him curiously. Did he mean that he wanted to…did he want instrumentality with her? Was this it? Was this the day, the day when they finally turned to LCL together. No, he wanted her to use the real words for things. Sex. Were they going to have sex together? He was hooking his thumbs into his boxers. Black ones. New. She could tell. They had done their laundry together enough times for her to know the sorry state of most of his boxers. She used her powers to help him. Oh. Maybe that was too fast.

"Mob, you don't have to rush. I'm here, I'm right here." Said Reigen. He was right there. He was always there, would always be there, for her. He would always be there to help her, to take care of her in any way that she needed. He needed to be the one taking charge of this, the one guiding her, them. Maybe he was still acting like Master Reigen to her. Maybe he was still trying to be the Reigen Arataka in her mind. Maybe he had to be that person. He had been that person to her for years, he couldn't just stop no matter what she called him. Maybe if he was the one taking charge, if he was the one leading them, then it would be a little less weird.

This felt right. This felt right but it felt weird.

He was still trying to live in today, maybe. This would be their new today. This moment, this bed, him, her, maybe this could be their new today. He wouldn't mind, he would welcome it, actually. Btu she didn't want one big today. She had told him that she wanted home, love, and a family with him. He would give that to her. He had walked into battle, into certain death, for her. He could give her the future that she wanted. That they wanted. He wanted it, too, because it was with her. He had loved her. He had always loved her. At some point that love had become…this…but he…this was good. This was good and he liked her. He loved her.

She wanted this. She wanted this and she wanted him and she had just practically tore his boxers off so, yeah, it was time. He kicked his boxers fully off and was about to get into position when he felt her hand brushing against him.

"Wow…." Said Mob. Her eyes were closed again. She was going by feel. It was so…different. Different than what she was used to. She let her hand move up and down. He had a lot of hair but it was soft, much softer than hers. She drew her hand up the length of him. It was hard in her hand, hard and steady and thick and nice. Her hand found the top of it. She could feel some moisture collecting on the top. He wanted her. This was for her. This time, this place, this feeling, it was all for her. She had been dreaming of this day, had he?

"Fuck…Mob….don't." said Reigen. Part of him wanted to bat her hand away and tell her that she was much too young for this. The other part of him wanted her to continue, to see what she would do now that she had him literally in the palm of her hand.

"Why? I want you to feel as good as I feel. Let me, just let me, Arataka." Said Mob. She opened her eyes now. His eyes were closed. Oh. It wasn't as big as she felt in her mind. It was pretty red, too. She played with the skin at the top, rolling it down just a little. He shuddered.

"Mob…this is about you. I want…I want to make you happy. I told you, already." Said Reigen as he closed his eyes. She was playing with him, now. Artless. She was artless but sincere. She had done this before, she must have, but she was out of practice, if she even was in practice. He didn't know. He hadn't been with someone her age since he was her age. He couldn't have been very good at eighteen, either. This wasn't bad, though, because it was Mob and she was sincere and what she didn't have in experience she made up for in sheer enthusiasm. He moved away from her. Too much enthusiasm. He had gone thirty two years without being circumcised, he didn't want to start on that life path now. He'd talk to her, later, about trimming her nails.

"I'm not happy unless you're happy, Mast-Arataka." Said Mob as she got a feel for him. He felt nice, not that she had ever felt more than one of these before.

"God, we just keep going in circles, don't we?" asked Reigen as she felt the length of him. She wanted to make him happy, he wanted to make her happy, they just wanted to make each other happy. He wanted this with her, he wanted to please her. It was less weird that way, if he was the one focused on pleasing her.

"No. I think we moved forward. We're here, aren't we?" asked Mob. She moved herself down lower, he was hovering just outside of her entrance now. Just one thrust, that was all it would take. Her life was her own. She wanted this. His life was his own. He wanted this too. She guided him so he was right there, pressed right against her.

"Mob, no." said Reigen scooting back. Mob wanted to reach over and hold him in place with her powers. Why? Why did he have to hurt her like this? Why would he act like he wanted something and then just take it away?

"Why?" asked Mob, her voice breaking. Reigen felt himself get hit with a wave of rejection.

"Condom. I don't have one. You need to wait a minute." Said Reigen holding eye contact with her. Oh. Mob looked sheepish and tried to break eye contact. He reached over and gave her hair a little tug.

"Don't be like that. I will never reject you, Mob. I will never reject you, Kageyama Shigeko." Said Reigen. He could feel her relaxing. Them. Her and the other her, that thing that lived beneath her skin. It had it's own mind. It had wanted this, hadn't it? He didn't like to think about the other her. That thing. That person. He focused on Mob. On her smiles. On her frowns. On her happiness. On her joy. On her pleasure.

"I know, I just got scared." Said Mob softly. How could she have gotten scared? Master Reigen would never, ever, lie to her again. He had promised.

"I know, Mob, I know. You're vulnerable. We're both pretty vulnerable right now." Said Reigen. This was as vulnerable as two people could be, together. This was big, this was new. This was well worn ground for him and a familiar path for her but they had never walked down this road together. He had to guide her. He was the one with the map. Or maybe she had it. She was the one who set them out on this journey. Maybe neither of them had a map. Maybe they were both walking down this path with only a vague idea of where it lead to and a lot of hope in their hearts. Who knew? He certainly didn't. He was none the wiser, now, maybe. After this, when today became tomorrow, what would they be? What could they be?

No, he knew who he had to be. He had to be the man she wanted him to be. He had always tried to be the man she had wanted him to be.

But first he needed to get a condom on because she had almost impaled herself on him and he hadn't been tested in a couple months and if he gave her something that he didn't know he even had he would never forgive himself.

"Mob, put the room down. Come on, I know you have better control than this." Said Reigen. Mob nodded and the room settled slowly back into place. This would be easier to control, now, because he had spoken directly to the other Shigeko. He had spoken directly to her and now she felt better. Mob watched him as he went over to his desk. Naked. He was naked. They were both naked. She watched the muscles of his body move. He had put on some weight over the years, not a lot. She didn't care, she would love him no matter how he looked. He dug through his desk until he found what he was looking for. Mob looked away.

She knew why he had those. Other people. He had been with other people. Jealousy burst into bloom within her. It was an ugly emotion. Green was an ugly color on anyone.

"Mob…don't be like that, ok?" said Reigen as he felt her jealousy. He hadn't been celibate at any point of his life. He had kept what he did away from their home but of course she knew what he got up to. Sometimes he stayed out late at night, some nights he didn't even come home at all. She had done the same. She hadn't been celibate, either. No, she had been with someone before him but he didn't care. Maybe he liked it, a little, that she wasn't an expert or anything, but that didn't mean that he wanted a blushing virgin. That would have been an extra layer of weird on this seven layer dip that was the beginning of their relationship. Well, the romantic and sexual portion of their relationship.

"I'm not like anything." Said Mob with a slight tone. She wasn't being like anything. She just felt a quick burst of something that she shouldn't have been feeling. He had been with other people. So had she. Well, one other person. It didn't matter. They were there, now, together, in that bed, and that was what mattered.

"You're jealous. Stop it." Said Reigen as he sat down next to her. She still laid down.

"I was but I'm fine now. We can still have instrumentality if you want, Master. I mean, Arataka." Said Mob. He sighed.

"Don't." said Reigen. Mob looked over at him.

"I'm sorry I called you Master, again. It's just a habit." Said Mob simply. She had been calling him Master for seven years, it would be a hard habit to break.

"No, I mean…Mob you want to do this, right? You want to do this big, adult thing with me?" asked Reigen. The gap between them seemed as wide as a canyon. She just sounded so…young…there. She always had her own words for things. That was how she understood the world, through her own lens. She had spoken like that for her entire life. It sounded too young, too childish, to him. She couldn't shatter the illusion of her that he was piecing together in his mind. He needed to keep the idea of Mob as a grown woman in his mind. He needed her to be a grown woman so that he could erase the idea of child Mob, of teenager Mob, from his mind.

"Yes. Of course I do." Said Mob. She wished that he would stop doubting her. They had already done so much already. She wanted to take that final step. There was no going back, he had told her that, so she wanted to go forward. She needed to move forward.

"Then use the words for things. Mob…Mob I know that's how you understand the world but…Mob that's the way you talked when you were **fucking** fourteen. It's just weird for me, ok? I'm trying to make this less weird." Said Reigen. When she said it like that he saw at fourteen. He saw her laying there in her futon telling him how she had been disappointed her first time. How she hadn't achieved instrumentality with her boyfriend, hadn't even felt like she was turning to LCL with him during the act of penetration like she had imagined that she would. Reigen needed to distance himself from those times. He **needed **to for his own **sanity**.

"Why is this weird? I'm not fourteen anymore. I'm not! Just…don't make me feel weird, Arataka." Said Mob. It felt weird when he said things like that. It made her feel like she was little again, like she was fourteen and laying down in her futon looking up at him and imagining a life with him. Imagining this with him. Well she wasn't imagining anymore.

"I won't make you feel weird if you don't make me feel weird. Just…use the words for things, Mob. The real words for them. You aren't a child anymore, right? Well if you're an adult then you won't be too squeamish to call things by their names." Said Reigen

"…fine. I will…if I makes you feel better." Said Mob softly. Reigen leaned down and kissed her. After a moment she kissed him back. He leaned himself more over her, the condom still clutched in his hand. His other hand was clutched in her hair. She kissed him back enthusiastically. He maneuvered himself so that he was once again between her legs. She ground herself against him. Hardness met slickness. Each time she rocked into him she mewed. Her hands found his hair, his shoulders, and his back. He broke away from her and pressed a kiss to her earlobe.

"Mob…what do you want?" asked Reigen. He needed to hear her say it, to hear her say the right word and chase young Mob from his mind. She was this person, now. She was this person and he accepted her. He accepted this about her.

"I want you to be inside of me." Said Mob. There. Those were the right words. She was glad that they were too close for him to see her. She must have been redder than Christmas time. She felt his entire body stiffen.

"Alright…just give me a minute." Said Reigen. Those were most certainly the right words. That was certainly what she wanted from him. He took a moment to collect himself. Right. This was happening. This was happening and it was happening with Mob. He was ok with this. She was ok with this. Then why couldn't he move.

Get up, Arataka.

He sat up and tore the packaging open with his teeth. He got it on securely and she rolled it down quickly with her powers. How many times had she done that before…? No. He did not get to lecture Mob about being jealous when he himself was guilty of the exact same thing. The past was in the past and now they had this, their new present.

He laid himself down parallel to her again and she impaled herself before he could even think.

"Oh…yes…." Said Mob breathlessly. This had been worth the wait, the four year long wait. It felt like forty. Eighty. Four hundred. Eight hundred. It had felt like an eternity but now she had what she wanted and oh! This was the end of eternity! This was the end of eternity and she was spending it with Reigen Arataka on top of her. Beside her. Inside her. She threw herself against him, she pushed him into her, with reckless abandon. Something heavy tipped over in the other room. A light blew out. The bed rose off the floor. Something else shattered into a million little pieces that would most likely end up embedded in the carpet. She didn't **care. **

It was just that good. It was so good that she just didn't care about anything else.

Reigen buried his face in her neck and kissed her as hard as he could. He couldn't keep this up for much longer. There was nothing between the two of them but two millimeters of latex. That was it. Her legs were wrapped around him, her hands were grasping at whatever she could find. He tried to match her rhythm, the only trouble being that there wasn't much of a rhythm to speak of. She was just rocking against him trying desperately to get off.

She was fucking herself on him.

This was Mob and she was….well at this point he should have been well past the point of shock. He could feel her, all of her. Her body, her feelings, everything. He couldn't keep this up for much longer. They were just too **close** and he just couldn't **stop.**

"God…God Mob…I love you…" said Reigen. He angled himself better and she…oh God the sounds she made…Reigen had never in his life made a woman sound like that, or maybe he did. He didn't know. All he knew was that she was there and she loved this and she loved him and this was the most amazing thing…

"Master….Reigen….Arataka…I think that I'm going to-" said Mob. She knew this feeling. She had so rarely reached this during….but she was. She was and she couldn't help it and oh no something else broke but it didn't matter because she was going to finish but they had just started and she never wanted this to end but it was going to and-

"Mob…Mob you're close…just let go. Mob, just let go." Said Reigen. He was so close that he whispered it. She listened. She listened and she just let go. Reigen felt it, her energy pouring into him. He bit down on her shoulder, accidentally, though she **liked** it. When she finished he finished. As intense as this was for her it was just as intense for him. He felt what she felt and she felt what he felt. Positive feedback loop. The room moved. The Earth moved. The building seemed to shake.

Boneless. They were both boneless.

"LCL…we're LCL….this is instrumentality." Said Mob as Master Reigen slumped over her. Reigen could barely muster the strength to roll over. They laid side by side on his, on their, bed. He tossed the condom over the side of the bed. He'd probably step in it tomorrow and be super grossed out but he just couldn't bring himself to care.

"Yeah…what you said." Said Reigen as he tried to catch his breath. Well, he now knew what it felt like for women to finish. It was intense. It came in waves. It was **exhausting** or maybe that was just from the entire night. Mob cuddled into him and he put an arm around her. She sighed into his side. She had no idea that it could feel like that, that it could be so good. Instrumentality. This was instrumentality. She had finally achieved instrumentality and it was with **Master Reigen.** No. **Arataka. **

He was Arataka now. There was no going back. She didn't want to go back. Her insides felt like jelly. Her bones had ceased to exist. The other her, her powers, were even quiet. This moment in time was so perfect that she wished that they could live in it together forever. She leaned over and kissed him. It was soft, sweet, and the perfect ending.

"Hey Mob…" said Reigen. It was over. It was beginning. Everything was different. Nothing had really changed. They had made love. They had sex. They fucked. They had…what had Mob been calling it? Instrumentality? Yes. They had become one. He usually didn't get sentimental after sex but that was how it felt like. Or maybe these were Mob's feelings. Who knew and who cared?

"Yes?" asked Mob. She was having trouble keeping her eyes opened. She felt exhausted. She felt just as tired as when she had fought Toichiro. Just as tired as when she had fought control back from the other Shigeko. But this was better. This was…this was good.

"We can't go back. We can't ever go back from this." Said Reigen. He could barely keep his eyes opened. He pulled his blanket up over them. She blinked and the lights went out.

"I know. I don't care. I don't ever want to go back." Said Mob. She put what few lights were left out. She knew that she had made a mess and broken a lot. She also may have felt the Earth itself move when she, when they, finished. She never wanted to go back to the way things were. She liked it, she liked what they had at the time, but now it was time for things to change. She was an adult now. They were both adults now and they could be together now.

"I don't either. I just…aren't you worried?" asked Reigen. They had crossed every single line that could be crossed. Now they were together. A couple. He was in a couple with Mob. Heh. He'd have to update Friendbook. Fuck. She'd want that. She'd want it to be Friendbook official. She didn't care who knew, did she?

"No. I trust you and I love you. I know how I feel about you and I know how you feel about me. I'm not afraid or worried or anything." Said Mob. They had each other. As long as they were together then they would be alright. Things always ended well for them when they were together. They had saved the world, the city, and each other many times over the years.

"Mob…what do we tell people? What are you planning on telling people?" said Reigen. He needed to know what she was planning, what she wanted. If he had it his way they would keep it to themselves until she was older. Eighteen and thirty two didn't look good. When would it? Twenty and thirty four? Twenty five and thirty nine? Thirty and forty four? When would this look ok?

"I'm planning on telling people that we're together and that we love each other. If they ask." Said Mob. What else was there to say? They were in love and love was all that mattered. This was it. This was her perfect happy ending. She knew that all she had to do was wait and she would get it

"Mob…this looks bad. People are going to think…I told you what people are going to think." Said Reigen. People were going to think that he took her in to take advantage of her. People were going to look at him like he was some kind of weirdo. His mother would feel vindicated. She would go on and on about how she was right. His father, who hadn't seen him since he was a teenager, would make contact just to tell him that he was the biggest mistake of his life. Her family would hate him. Her little brother would kill him. Hell, the kid probably wouldn't even use his powers. He'd probably just strangle him to death with his bare hands.

"So? I'm through living my life trying to be the person that I thought people wanted me to be. I used to think like that, that because I was so different that there must have been something wrong with me. I don't care, anymore, what people think. I'm me. I'm Mob. I'm Shigeko. I am who I am and I want what I want and I want to be with you." Said Mob, her eyes still closed. He was so warm. She took a deep breath. He smelled nice, like himself, like them.

"What about me? Mob, you know how much older I am than you. I know that this is legal and that this has been legal for a while but it looks so, so, so bad." Said Reigen. This looked bad and he told himself that he wanted to protect her but really he was protecting himself. He was protecting himself from disapproving gazes and wagging tongues. He was protecting his own reputation. He had lost everything, before, during their time apart. He never wanted to go back to that.

"Who cares how old you are? I'm an adult and you're an adult. I think that people shouldn't complain about our relationship. We aren't hurting anymore. We help people. We've been helping people for years. That should be enough. We've done so much for people that they should just mind their own business. I love you and you love me. That's what matters and that's all that will ever matter." Said Mob. She said it flatly because it was a flat fact. This was the truth. The pure and utter truth.

"It's not that simple. You always think that things are so simple." Said Reigen. Stubborn. Mob was always so stubborn. She had always been so stubborn. Even when she was little there was no changing her mind when she put it to something.

"It is. It is simple. I love you, you love me, and we are the protagonists of our own lives. I don't know why you're trying to talk me out of this, Arataka. We just had instrumentality. We both feel the same way. I know how much you care about what other people think and I don't understand it." Said Mob seriously not understanding him. Love was the most powerful feeling of all. Love was all that two people could ever need.

"That's because you're an island, Mob. You've always been an island onto yourself. I'm not. I understand people, Mob. I understand people and I understand that I have to live in the world with them. I'm not trying to talk you out of this, I just want you to understand." Said Reigen. He could feel Mob frowning against him.

"No, you are trying to talk me out of it. I won't be talked out of this. This is everything that I've ever wanted and now I have it." Said Mob. She would not lose her perfect happy ending. She had been working for this for so long. She had been the best possible version of herself. She had been kind. She had been devoted. She had been patient. She would not be talked out of this.

"What about what I want?" asked Reigen quietly. What did he want? He wanted…he wanted to be someone. She had made him someone. He wanted to be loved. She loved him. He wanted to be heard. She heard him. He wanted to be cared for. She cared for him. Her. It had always been her, hadn't it? When did he start feeling like this? It was gradual, like boiling a frog. If he had been thrown into a pot of boiling water, if he had known what she wanted for him back when they met, he would have run away as fast as he could. The water had warmed, slowly, gently, and that was how they wound up sharing this bed. Sharing each other.

"Tell me what you want." Said Mob, her voice barely above a whisper. She would give him whatever he wanted. That was what you did when you loved someone.

"I want…I want to be somebody. I guess…I guess that you're what I want. I want us both to be happy. I want you to be happy. I guess…I guess that I've always wanted to give you what you wanted. I don't know. Mob, to have what you want, to have the future you want, it won't be easy. People are going to say things. People are going to talk." Said Reigen. People could be so cruel. She had seen it, the cruelty of the world. Not this sort of cruelty, though. They could take on the world, defeat Claw, exorcise countless spirits, but she had never had to deal with the storm that was going to come.

"So? People can say whatever they want. I won't care." Said Mob. Who cared? Who would ever care? This was her life.

"But I do…Mob…Mob I want this. I want this so badly…and so do you…" said Reigen. He was just so tired and he knew that he was going in circles but this was just so much. This entire thing was just so much. She wanted him. She wanted a relationship. She wanted forever. She had talked about a home and a family and children and a life. He had never given much thought to that. He knew what was expected of him, his mother had made that perfectly clear, but he had never thought that he would find the woman who would want that from him. He had found her. He had found them woman that he wanted that with. Why did it have to be Mob?

"Then let it happen. Let go, Arataka, just let go." Said Mob echoing what he has said to her earlier. He just needed to let go. He was projecting his feelings. She wished that she could just take it from him. She wished that she could make all of this fear and anxiety disappear. She couldn't. She couldn't because those weren't her powers. She didn't have empath powers.

"I want to…but it's a lot. Mob…Mob you want a lot from me." Said Reigen. From the day he had met her, the day his world got a lot bigger and also smaller, she had asked a lot from her. She had come through his door looking for a Master. She looked for someone to tell her how not to become a monster. He had kept her from becoming the worst sort of monster. She could have become another Toichiro. She could have been but she had asked him to keep her from becoming that.

"What do I want that's so much?" asked Mob. She wanted what coupled people did. She wanted to always be with him, to have and give love. They already had a home together and they could make a family later. That was what people did when they loved each other, they became a family. That could come later. They had only just become a family.

"Mob…Mob you told me that you wanted forever…and everything that came with it. You wanted a home and a family with me. Mob…Mob nobody has ever asked that of me." Said Reigen burying his face in her hair.

"We already have love and a home and we can have a family later. I didn't mean…right…now…Master…I mean…Arataka." said Mob as she felt herself drifting off. She really was so tired.

"Later…we can have all of that later…" said Reigen. He was drifting off and she was drifting off. In the morning. Everything could be alright in the morning.

After all, they had forever.


End file.
